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KOREA AND
HER NEIGHBOURS
ILLUSTRATED
• <• - #
> .
J: ■
KOREA AND
HER NEIGHBOURS
A NARRATIVE OF TRAVEL, WITH
AN ACCOUNT OF THE VICISSITUDES
AND POSITION OF THE COUNTRY
• ••
By Mrs gISHOP
(ISABELLA BIRD)
WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME II.
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
190S
CONTENTS
PAET 11
CHAPTER XIX
PAoa
The Korean Frontier ...... I
CHAPTER XX
A New Empire ....... 21
CHAPTER XXI
The King's Oath— the King and Queen , • .29
CHAPTER XXII
A Transition Stage — "Great Fifteenth Day" . . 60
CHAPTER XXIII
A Dark Chapter of Korean History . . . .60
CHAPTER XXIV
Ms. Yi Hak In— Korean Bubial Customs . . .78
300454
iv CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXV
PAGE
Fbom Pa Ju to Sonq-do ... ... 90
CHAPTER XXVI
From Song-do to PhyOnq-yano . . . .100
CHAPTER XXVII
NOBTHWABD HO ! . . . . . • . 124
CHAPTER XXVIII
From Tok ChhSn to PhyOng-yano . . . .137
CHAPTER XXIX
The Position of Korean Women . . . .147
CHAPTER XXX
Christian Missions . . . . . .165
CHAPTER XXXI
The ** Top-Knot "—the Korean Heoira . . .178
CHAPTER XXXII
The Reorganised Korean Government , . . 188
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXXIII
Education— Trade— Finance
PAGE
. 207
CHAPTER XXXIV
Korean Djbmonism or Shamanism
. 222
CHAPTER XXXV
Notes on Djbmonism in Korea — Concluded
234
CHAPTER XXXVI
Seoul in 1897
. 255
CHAPTER XXXVII
Last Words on Korea
Appendix A. Mission Statistics for Korea, 1896 .
Appendix B. Direct Foreign Trade of Korea, 1884-96
Appendix C. Return of principal Articles of Export
years 1896-95 .....
Appendix D .....
Appendix E. Treaty between Japan and Russia, with Reply of
H.E. the Korean Minister for Foreign Affairs
Index
277
. 298
. 300
for the
. 302
. 305
307
. 311
CHAPTEE XIX
THE KOREAN FRONTIER
The chief object of my visit to Eussian Manchuria was to
settle for myself by personal investigation the vexed
question of the condition of those Koreans who have found
shelter under the Eussian flag, a number estimated in
Seoul at 20,000. It was there persistently said that
Eussia was banishing them in large numbers, and that
several thousands of them had already recrossed the
Tumen, and were in such poverty that the King of Korea
had sent agents to the north who were to settle them on
lands in Ham-gyong Do.
In Wladivostok the servant-interpreter diflSculty was
absolutely insurmountable. No eflforts on the part of my
friends could obtain what did not exist, and I was on
the verge of giving up what proved a very interesting
journey, when the Director of the Siberian Telegraph lines
very kindly liberated the senior official in his department,
who had not had a holiday for many years, to go with me.
Mr. Heidemann, a German from the Baltic provinces, spoke
German, Eussian, and English with nearly equal ease, and
as a Eussian official was able to make things smoother than
VOL.n B
2 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap.
they might otherwise have been in a very rough part of
Primorsk. He was tall, good-looking, and verging on
middle age, very gentlemanly, never failed in any courtesy,
understood how to manage moujiks, and was a capable and
willing interpreter; but he was official, reticent, and un-
interested, and gave me the impression of being frozen
into his uniform !
Fortified as to my project by the cordial approval of the
Governor, the courtesy of the Telegraph Department, and
the singular splendour of the weather, I left Wladivostok
by a red sunrise in a small steamer, which accomplished
the 60 miles to Possiet Bay in seven hours, landing us in
a deep inlet of clear water and white sand, soon to be closed
by ice, at the foot of low and absolutely barren hills fringing
ofif into sandy knolls, where Koreans with their ox-carts
awaited the steamer. A well-spread tea-table at the house
of the Eussian postmaster was very welcome. Such a
strong-looking family I had seldom seen, but afterwards I
found that size and strength are characteristic of the
Bussian settlers in Primorsk.
Possiet Bay is a large military station of fine barracks
and storehouses. It scarcely seemed to possess a civil
population, but there are Korean settlements at no great
distance,from which much of the beef-supply of Wladivostok
is derived. We met a number of strong, thriving-looking
Koreans driving 60 fine fat cattle down to the steamer.
The post waggon, in which we were cramped up among
and under the mail-bags, took us at a two hours' gallop
along frozen inlets of the sea and across frozen rivers, over
grassy, hilly country, scarcely enlivened by Korean farms
in the valleys, to Nowo Kiewsk, which we reached after
XIX A MILITARY SETTLEMENT 3
iiightfall,and were hospitably received by the representative
of Messrs. Kuntz and Albers, whose large brick and stone
establishment is the prominent object in the settlement.
Nowo Kiewsk is a great military post, to which 1000
civilians, chiefly Koreans and Chinese, have been attracted
by the prospect of gain. Koreans indeed form the bulk of
this population, and do all the hauling of goods and fuel
with their ox-teams. The centre of the town is a great
dusty slope intersected by dusty and glaring roads, which
resound at intervals from early morning tiU sunset with
the steady tramp of brown-ulstered battalions. Between
Possiet Bay and Nowo Kiewsk there were 10,000 infantry
and artillery, and at the latter post 8 pieces of field artillery
and 24 two-wheeled ammunition waggons. Barracks for
10,000 more men were in course of rapid construction.
Long wooden sheds shelter the artillery ponies, and
villages of low mud houses of two rooms each, with
windows consisting of a single small pane of glass,
the families of soldiers. There are great drill and parade
grounds and an imposing Greek church of the usual
pattern.
With its great open spaces and wide streets, Nowo
Kiewsk looks laid out for futurity, straggling along a tree-
less and bushless hill-slope for 2 miles. In addition to
Kuntz and Albers, with their polyglot staff of clerks, among
whom a young Korean in European dress was conspicuous
for his gentlemanliness and alacrity, there is another Ger-
man house, and there are forty small shops, chiefly kept by
Chinese, at all of which schnaps and vodka are sold.
I was detained there for three days while arrangements
for my southern journey were being made, and during that
4 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap.
time the Chief of Police, who spoke French, took me to
several Korean villages. So far as I saw and heard, the whole
agricultural population of the neighbourhood is Korean,
and is in a very prosperous condition. There, and down to
the Korean frontier, most of these settlef& are doing well,
and some of them are growing rich as contractors for the
supply of meat and grain to the Eussian forces. At this
they have beaten their Chinese neighbours, and they
actually go into Chinese Manchuria, buy up lean cattle,
and fatten them for beef. To those who have only seen
the Koreans in Korea, such a statement will be hardly
credible. Yet it does not stand alone, for I have it on the
best authority that the Korean settlers near Khabaroffka
have competed so successfully with the Chinese in market
gardening that the supplying that city with vegetables is
now entirely in their hands !
The Eussian tarantass is one of the most uncouth of
civilised vehicles — all that can be said of it is that it suits
the roads, which in that region are execrable. On two sets
of stout wheels and axles, attached to each other by long
solid timbers, a long shallow box is secured, with one, two,
or even three boards, cushioned or not, " roped " across it
for seats. It may be drawn by either two or three horses
abreast, one in the shafts and one or two outside, each with
the most slender attachment to the vehicle, and his head
held down and inwards by a tight strap. This outer animal
is trained to a showy gallop, which never sleickens even
though the shaft horse may keep up a decorous trot. The
tarantass has no springs, and, going at a gallop, bumps and
boimces over all obstacles, holes, hillocks, ruts and streams
being alike to it.
KOREAN SETTLERS 6
The iarantass of the Chief of Police made nothing of
I* the obstacles on the road to YauLchihe, where we were to
I hear of a Korean interpreter. The level country, narrow-
I ing into a valley bordered by fine mountains, is of deep, rich
t black soil, and grows almost all cereals and roots. All the
■ CTops were gathered in and the land was neatly ploughed.
I Korean hamlets with houses of a very superior class to
I'those in Korea were sprinkled over the country, At one
I of the lai-gest villages, where 140 families were settled on
I 750 acres of rich land, we called at several of the peasant
I farmers' houaea, and were made very welcome, even the
f women coming out to welcome the oIEcial with an air of
■ decided pleasure. The farmers had changed the timid,
l»U3picious, or cringing manner which is chai'acteristic of
Ithem to a gi'eat extent at home, for an air of frankness
l.aud manly independence which was most pleasing,
The Cliief of Police wag a welcome visitor. The Koreans
6 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap.
had nothing to fear, unless his quick scent discerned
an insanitary odour, or his eye an unwarrantable garbage
heap I The farm-yards were clean and well swept, and the
domestic animals were lodged in neat sheds. The houses,
of strictly Korean architecture, were large, with five or
six rooms, carefully thatched, and very neat within,
abounding in such comforts 'and plenishings as would
only be dreamed of by mandarins at home. It is insisted
on, however, that, instead of the flues which heat the
floors vomiting forth their smoke through many blackened
apertures in the walls, they shall unite in sending it
heavenwards through a hollow tree -trunk placed at a
short distance from the house. This, and cleanly sur-
roundings in the interests of sanitation, are the only
restrictions on their Korean habits. The clothing and
dwellings are the same as in Korea, and the "top-knot"
flourishes.
A little farther on there is the large village of
Yantchihe, with a neat schoolhouse, in which Bussian
and Korean pupils sit side by side at their lessons, a
Greek church, singularly rich in internal decorations, and
a priest's house adjoining. This is a very prosperous
village. In the neat police station a Korean sergeant
wrote down my requirements and sent off a smart Korean
policeman in search of an interpreter. Four hundred
Koreans in this neighbourhood have conformed to the
Greek Church and have received baptism. On asking the
priest, who was nxore picturesque than cultivated, and
whose large young family seemed oppressively large for
the house, what sort of Christians they made, he re-
plied suggestively that they had " a great deal to learn,"
XIX RUSSIAN TOLERATION 7
and that there would be "more hope for the next
generation,"
I am not clear in my own mind as to the cause of
the success which has attended "missionary effort" at
Yantchihe and elsewhere. The statements I received on
the subject diflfered widely, and in most cases were made
hesitatingly, as if my informants were not sure of their
ground. My impression is that while Eussia is tolerant
of devil-worship, or any other worship which is not sub-
versive of the externals of morality, "conformity" is
required to obtain for the Korean alien those blessings
which belong to naturalisation as a Bussian subject.
Preparations being completed for travelling to the
Korean frontier, and into Korea as far as Kyong-heung, a
town which a Trade Convention in 1888 opened to the
residence of Eussian subjects in the hope of creating a
market there after the style of Kiachta, I had an inter-
view with Mr. Matunin, the Frontier Commissioner, who
gave me a very unpleasant account of insecurity on the
frontier owing to the lawlessness of the Chinese troops,
and an introduction to the Governor of Kyong-heung.
A large tarantass with three ponies and a driver, a
Korean on another pony, and the Korean headman of a
neighbouring village, who spoke Eussian well, and our
saddles, were our modest outfit. The details of the two
days' journey to the Tumen are too monotonous for inflic-
tion on the reader. The road was infamous, and at times
disappeared altogether on a hill -side or in a swamp,
and swamps are frequent for the first 40 versts. The
tarantass, always attempting a gallop, bounced, bumped,
and thumped, till breathing became a series of gasps.
8 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap.
Occasionally we stuck fast in swampy streams where the
ice was broken, being extricated by a tremendous, united,
and apparently trained, jump on the part of the ponies,
which compelled a strong grip of the vehicle with hands
and feet, and would have dislocated any other. Mr.
Heidemann smoked cigarettes unceasingly, and made no
remarks.
We crossed the head of Possiet Bay and other inlets at
a gallop on thin ice, forded several streams in the afore-
said fashion, and passed through severeal Korean coast
villages given up to the making of salt by a rude process,
the finished product being carted away to Hun-chun in
China in baskets of finely- woven reeds. These Chinese
carts are drawn by seven mules each, constantly driven at
a gallop.
After 30 versts the country became very hilly, with
rugged mountains in the distance, all without a tree or
bush, and covered with coarse and fine grasses mixed up
with myriads of withered flower stalks of Compositce and
Unibdliferce, and here and there a lonely, belated purple
aster shivered in the strong keen wind, which made an
atmosphere at zero somewhat hard to face. The valleys
are flat and broad, and their rich black soil, the product
of ages of decaying vegetation, is absolutely stoneless.
Almost all crops can be raised upon it. Besides being a
rich agricultural country, the region is well suited for
cattle-breeding. There were large herds on the hills, and
hay-stacks thickly scattered over the landscape indicated
abundance of winter keep. The potato, which flourishes
and is free from the disease, is largely cultivated, and is
now with the Koreans an article of ordinary diet.
XIX KOREAN PROSPERITY 9
The whole of this fine country is settled by Koreans,
for the few hamlets of wretched, tumble-down Chinese
houses are of no account. Whether as squatters or pur-
chasers, they are making the best of the land. The
number of their domestic animals enables them to fertilise
it abundantly ; they plough deep, and rotate their crops,
and get a splendid yield from their lands. We halted at
Saretchje, a village of 120 families, admirably housed, and
with all material comforts abounding about them. Out of
its 600 inhabitants, 450 have " conformed." The Koreans,
having no religion, are apparently not unwilling to secure
the possible advantages of conversion, and though none of
the Greek priests who conversed with me were enthusi-
astic about their " consistency," it is at least more satis-
factory to see an " Hcce Homo " on the wall than the family
daemon.
At distances of 3 and 4 miles there are Korean
villages, of which prosperity in greater or less degree is a
characteristic. The houses are large and well built, and
the farm-yards are well stocked with domestic animals, the
people and children are well clothed, and the village lands
carefully cultivated.
A long ascent, during which the road, which for some time
had been intermittent, gradually disappeared, leads to the
summit of a high hill, from which the mountainous frontiers
of Eussia, China, and Korea are seen to converge. After
losing our way and our time, and crossing several ranges
of hills without a road, just as the winter sun was setting
in a flood of red gold, glorifying the mountains on the
Chinese frontier, a turn round a blufif revealed what is
geographically and politically a striking view.
10 THE KOBEAN FRONTIER chap.
The whole of the Kusbo- Korean frontier, 11 miles in
length, and a hroad river full of sandbanks, passing
through a desert of sandMUs to the steely blue ocean, lay
crimaon in the sunset, On a steep blnff above the river a
tall granite slab marks the spot where the Russian and
Cliinese frontiers meet. Across the Tumen, the barren
mountains of Korea loomed purple through a baze of gold.
Three empires are seen at a glance. A small and poor
Korean village is situated in a valley below. Close to the
Boundary Stone, on the high steep bluff above the Tumen,
there ia a large mud hut from which most of the white-
wash had scaled olf, with thatch lield on by straw ropes
weighted with atones.
It was a very lonely scene. A Korean told ua that it
XIX THE RUSSIAN "ARMY" 11
was absolutely impossible for us to sleep at the village.
A Cossack came out of the hut, took a long look at us, and
returned. Then a forlorn-looking corporal appeared, who
also took a long look, and having hospitable instincts, came
up and told us that the village was impossible except for
the drivers and horses, but that he could put us up roughly
in the hut, which consisted of one fair-sized room, another
very small one, and a lean-to.
The latest English papers had stated that '' Bussia has
lately massed 5000 men on her Korean frontier, and 4000
at Hun-chun." It is not desirable to make any inquiries
about the positions and numbers of Bussian troops, and I
had prudently abstained from asking questions, and had
looked forward with interest to seeing a great display of
military force. This hut is the military post of Krasnoye
Celo, and the " army '* of Bussia " massed on her Korean
frontier " consisted of 15 men and a corporal, the officer
being required to endure the isolation of the position for
six months, and the privates for one. The roars of laughter
which greeted the English statement were not compli-
mentary to newspaper accuracy.
The corporal's small room was of no particular shape,
and was furnished with only a deal chair and small table,
and a big earthen jar of water, but it was well warmed,
and had an iron camp-bed in a recess with a wire- wove
mattress, much broken and " sagging," the sharp points of
the broken wires sticking up in several places through the
one rug with which I attempted to mollify their asperities.
This recess, which just contained the bed, was curtained
off for me, and the corporal, Mr. Heidemann, and three
Korean headmen lay closely packed on the floor. The
12 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap.
corporal, glad to have people to talk with, talked more
than half the night, and began again before daybreak. We
supped on barrack fare — black bread, barley brose, and tea,
with the addition of a little kwass, a very slightly fer-
mented drink, made from black bread, raisins, sugar, and
a little vodka, schnaps and vodka containing 40 per cent of
alcohol. At 9 p.m. I was surprised and delighted with the
noble strains of a Greek Litany, chanted in well-balanced
parts from the barrack-room, the evening worship of the
Cossacks.
My last sunset view of the Tumen was of a sheet of
ice. The headmen of the Korean villages of Sajomi and
Krasnoe, who were in council till near midnight, thought
it was impossible to get across, and they said that the
ferry-boat w^as drawn ashore and was frozen in for the
winter, and that two Eussian Commissioners and a General,
after waiting for three days, had left the day before, having
failed. However, yielding to my urgency, they set all the
able-bodied men of Sajomi to work at 2 A.M. to dig the
boat out, and by 7 she had moved some yards towards
the river, which, however, was still a sheet of ice. Later,
the corporal sent 14 of his men to help the Koreans,
laughingly saying that I had the " whole Eussian frontier
army to get me across." At 9 word came that the boat
was nearly afloat, and we started, on horseback, with two
baggage ponies, and rode a mile over the hills and through
the prosperous Korean village of Sajorni, down to a dazzling
expanse of sand through which the Tumen flows to the sea,
there 10 miles ofl*.
The river ice was breaking up into large masses under
the morning sun, and between Eussia and Korea there
XIX AN ATTEMPT WHICH FAILED - 13
was much open water about 600 feet broad. The experts
said if we could get over at all it would be between noon
and 2, after which the ice would pack and freeze together
again. Koreans and Cossacks worked with a will, breaking
the ice, digging under the boat, and moving her with
levers, but it was noon before the unwieldy craft, used for
the ferriage of oxen, moved into the water, accompanied by
a hearty cheer. She leaked badly, two men were required
to bale her, and the stem platform, by which animals
enter her, was carried away. The baggage was carried in
by men wading much over their knees, and then came the
turn of the ponies, but not the whole Eussian army by
force or persuasion could get those wretched animals em-
barked.
After a whole hour's work and any amount of kicking,
plunging, and injuries, from getting one or two legs over
1)he bulwarks, and struggling back, and rolling backwards
into the river, two were apparently safe in the ferry-boat,
when suddenly they knocked over the man who held them
and jumped into the water, one blind animal being rescued
with difficulty, and the other cutting his legs considerably.
The ice was then fast forming, but the soldiers made one
more attempt, which failed, owing to what Americans
would not inaptly call the " cussedness '* of the Siberian
ponies. For the first time on any journey I had to confess
myself baffled, for it was impossible to swim the contuma-
cious animals across, owing to the heavy ice-floes and the
low temperature of the water. I had sat on my pony
watching these proceedings for nearly four hours, watch-
ing too the grand Korean mountains as they swept down
to the icy river in every shade of cobalt blue, varied by
14 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap.
indigo shadows of the white cloud masses which sailed
slowly across the heavenly sky. At that point from which
I most reluctantly turned back, the Tumen has a large
volume of water, but above and below sandbanks render
the navigation so difficult that it is only in the rainy
season that flat-bottomed boats make the attempt, and not
always with success, to reach the Korean town of K'wan,
80 versts, or something over 50 miles, above Krasnoye
Celo. The Chinese, in the insane notion that Japan was
about to land a large force on the south bank of the
Tumen, had seized all the boats above the Bussian post.
I photographed the " Eussian army " and the barracks,
as well as the Boundary Stone, and the corporal slouching
against the scaly forlorn quarters on the desolate height
in an attitude of extreme dejection, as we drove away
leaving him to his usual dulness.
The days of the return journey gave me a good oppor-
tunity of learning something of the condition of the
Koreans under another Government than their own.
So long ago as 1863, 13 families from Ham-gyong Do
crossed the frontier and settled on the river Tyzen Ho, a
little to the north of Possiet Bay. By 1866 there were
100 families there, very poor, among which the Eussian
Government distributed cattle and seed for cultivation.
During 1869, a year of very great scarcity in Northern
Korea, 4500 Koreans migrated, hunger-driven, into Prim-
orsk, some 3800 of them being absolutely destitute. These
had to be supported, no easy thing, as the territory, only
ceded to Eussia a few years before, was but a thinly-
peopled wilderness, and was also suffering from a bad
harvest.
^ •
XIX . KOREAN IMMIGRANTS 15
In 1897 there were in Primorsk 32 village districts,
i.e. villages with outlying hamlets, divided into 5 adminis-
trative districts. Besides these, one village belongs to the
city of Khabaroflfka on the Amur, and there are large
Korean settlements adjacent to Wladivostok and Nikolskye.
The total number of Korean immigrants is estimated at
from 16,000 to 18,000. It must be remembered that
several thousands of these were literally paupers, and that
they subsisted for nearly a year on the charity of the
Kussian authorities, and after that were indebted to them
for seed corn. They settled on the rich lands of the
Siberian valleys mostly as squatters, but have been
unmolested for many years. Many have purchased the
farms they occupy, and in other cases villages have acquired
community rights to their adjacent lands. It is the
intention of Government that squatting shall gradually be
replaced by purchase, the purchasers receiving legal title-
deeds.
These alien settlers practically enjoy autonomy. At
the head of each district is an Elder or Headman, with
from one to three asi^tants according to its size. The
police and their ofi&cers are Korean. In each district
there are two or three judges with their clerks, who try
minor offences. The headmen, who are responsible for
order and the collection of taxes, are paid salaries, or
receive various allowances. All these oflScials are Koreans,
and are elected by the people themselves from among them-
selves. The Government taxation is 10 roubles (about £1)
on each farm per annum. The local taxation, settled by
the villagers in council for their own purposes, such as
roads, ditches, bridges, and schools, is limited to 3 roubles
16 THE KOKEAN FRONTIEK chap.
per farm per annum. Men who are not landholders pay
from 1 to 2 roubles per annum.
Koreans settled in Siberia prior to 1884 can claim
rights as Eussian subjects, and at this time those who can
prove that they have been settled on purchased lands for
ten years can do so, as well as certain others, well reported
of as being of settled lives and good conduct. Owing to
the steady influx of settlers from Southern Russia, the
rich lands near the railroad are required for colonisation,
and further immigration from Korea has been prohibited.
The sending of Koreans who are either squatters or of
unsettled lives to the Amur Province is under discussion.
The villages between Krasnoye Celo and Nowo Kiewsk
are fair average specimens of Russo-Korean settlements.
The roads are fairly good, and the ditches which border
them well kept. Sanitary rules are strictly enforced, the
headman being made responsible for village cleanliness.
Unlike the poor, ragged, filthy villages of the peninsula,
these are well built in Korean style, of whitewashed mud
and laths, trimly thatched, the compounds or farm-yards
are enclosed by whitewashed walls, or high fences of
neatly- woven reeds, and look as if they were swept every
morning, and the farm buildings are substantial and well
kept. Even the pig-sties testify to the Argus eyes of the
district chiefs of police.
Most of the dwellings have four, five, and even six
rooms, with papered walls and ceilings, fretwork doors and
windows, "glazed" with white translucent paper, finely-
matted floors, and an amount of plenishings rarely to be
found even in a mandarin's house in Korea. Cabinets,
bureaus, and rice chests of ornamental wood with handsome
jox A RADICAL IMPROVEMENT 17
brass decorations, low tables, stools, cushions, brass samo-
vars, dressers displaying brass dinner services, brass bowls,
china, tea-glasses, brass candlesticks, brass kerosene lamps,
and a host of other things, illustrate the capacity to
secure comfort. Pictures of the Tsar and Tsaritza, of the
C!hrist, and of Greek saints, and framed cards of twelve
Christian prayers, replace the coarse daubs of the family
daemons in very many houses. Out of doors full granaries,
ponies, mares with foals, black pigs of an improved breed,
draught oxen, and fat oxen for the Wladivostok market,
with ox-carts and agricultural implements, attest solid
material prosperity. It would be impossible for a traveller
to meet with more cordial hospitality and more cleanly
and comfortable accommodation than I did in these
Korean homes.
But there is more than this. The air of the men has
undergone a subtle but real change, and the women,
though they nominally keep up their habit of seclusion,
have lost the hang-dog air which distinguishes them at
home. The suspiciousness and indolent conceit, and the
servility to his betters, which characterise the home-bred
Korean, have very generally given place to an independence
and manliness of manner rather British than Asiatic.
The alacrity of movement is a change also, and has replaced
the conceited swing of the yang-han and the heartless
lounge of the peasant. There are many chances for
making money, and there is neither mandarin nor yang-
han to squeeze it out of the people when made, and com-
forts and a certain appearance of wealth no longer attract
the rapacious attentions of ofl&cials, but are rather a credit
to a man than a source of insecurity. All who work can
VOL. II
18 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap
be comfortable, and many of the farmers are rich and
engage in trade, making and keeping extensive contracts.
Those Koreans who are not settled on lands, chiefly in
the direction of the Chinese frontier, and who subsist bj
wood cutting and hauling, are less well off, and theii
hamlets have something of squalor about them.
In Korea I had learned to think of Koreans as the
dregs of a race, and to regard their condition as hopeless
but in Primorsk I saw reason for considerably modifying
my opinion. It must be borne in mind that these people
who have raised themselves into a prosperous farming
class, and who get an excellent character for industry anc
good conduct alike from Eussian police officials, Bussiai
settlers, and military officers, were not exceptionallj
industrious and thrifty men. They were mostly starving
folk who fled from famine, and their prosperity and genera!
demeanour give me the hope that their countrymen ii
Korea, if they ever have an honest administration anc
protection for their earnings, may slowly develop into men
In parts of Western Asia I have had occasion to not<
the success of Eussian administration in conquered oi
acquired provinces, and with subject races, specially hei
creation of an orderly, peaceful, and settled agricultural
population out of the nomadic and predatory tribes o;
Turkestan. Her success with the Korean immigrants ii
in its way as remarkable, for the material is inferior. She
is firm where firmness is necessary, but outside that limit
allows extreme latitude, avoids harassing aliens by pettj
prohibitions and irksome rules, encourages those forms o:
local self-government which suit the genius and habits oj
different peoples, and trusts to time, education, and contact
»» J •
XIX THE CHINESE FKONTIER 19
with other fonns of civilisation to amend what is repre-
hensible in customs, religion, and costume.
A few days later I went to Hun-chun on the frontier
of Chinese Manchuria, from its position an important
military post, and was most hospitably received by the
Commandant and his married aide-de-camp. There, as
everywhere in Primorsk, and from the civil as well as the
military authorities, I not only received the utmost kind-
ness, courtesy, and hospitality, but information was frankly
given on the various topics I was interested in, and help
towards the attainment of my objects. Hun-chun is in
the midst of mountainous country, denuded of wood in
recent years, and abounding in rich, well-watered valleys
inhabited only by Koreans. A wilder, drearier, and more
wind-swept situation it would be hard to find.
Instead of " 4000 troops " there were only 200 Cossacks,
housed in a good brick barrack, one-half of which is a
much-decorated chapel, besides which there are only open
thatched sheds for their hardy, active Baikal horses, a
small, well-arranged hospital, a wooden house for the
Colonel Commandant, and some terra-cotta mud houses
for the officers and married troopers. The whole Russian
military force from Hun-chun to the Amur consisted of
1500 Cossacks, distributed among thirty frontier posts.
The Commandant told me that their chief duty at that
time was the " daily " arresting of Chinese brigands who
crossed the frontier to harry the Korean villages, and who,
on being marched back and handed over to the mandarins,
were at once liberated to repeat their forays.
The Chinese had " massed " several thousand of their
Manchu troops at Hun-chun, and they had created such a
i
1
■ I
,!
20 THE KOREAN FRONTIER ohap.xix
reign of terror that the peasant farmers had deserted their
homes over a large area of country. The soldiers, robbed
by their officers of their nominal pay, and only half fed,
relied on unlimited pillage for making up the deficiency,
and neither women nor property were safe from their
brutality and violence. So desperately undisciplined were
they, that only a few days before the Secretary and Inter-
preter of the Eussian frontier Commissioner at Nowo
Kiewsk, visiting Hun-chun on official business, narrowly
escaped actual violence at their hands, and the Chinese
Governor told them that he had no control at all over the
troops. It was only the rigid discipline of the Cossacks
which prevented scrimmages which might have produced
a serious conflagration.
CHAPTEK XX
A NEW EMPIRE
After returning to Wladivostok, accompanied by a young
Danish gentleman who was kindly lent to me by Messrs.
Kuntz and Albers, and who spoke English and Bussian, I
spent a week on the Ussuri Eailway, the eastern section
of the Trans-Siberian Eailway, going as far as the hamlet
of Ussuri on the Ussuri Eiver at the great Ussuri Bridge,
beyond which the line, though completed for 50 versts,
was not open for trafl&c. Indeed, up to that point from
Nikolskoye trains were run twice daily rather to " settle
the line" than for profit, and their average speed was
only twelve miles an hour. The weather was brilliant,
varied by a heavy snowstorm.
The present Tsar is understood to be enthusiastic about
this railroad. During his visit to Wladivostok in 1891, when
Tsarevitch, he inaugurated the undertaking by wheeling
away the first barrowful of earth and placing the first stone
in position, after which, work was begun simultaneously at
both ends.
The eastern terminus of this great railroad undertaking
is close to the sea and the Government deep-water pier.
22 A NEW EMPIRE chap.
at which the fine steamers from Odessa of the Bussian
" Volunteer Fleet " discharge their cargoes. The station is
large and very handsome, and both it and the noble adminis-
trative oflBces are built of gray stone, with the architraves
of the doors and windows in red brick. Buffets and all
else were in efficient working order. In the winter of
1895-96 only third and fourth class cars were running,
the latter chiefly patronised by Koreans and Chinese.
Each third class carriage is divided into three compart-
ments with a corridor, and has a lavatory and steam-heat-
ing apparatus. The backs of the seats are hooked up to
form upper berths for sleeping, and as the cars are eight feet
high they admit of broad luggage shelves above these.
The engines which ran the traffic were old American
locomotives, but those which are to be introduced, as well
as all the rolling stock, are being manufactured in the
Baltic provinces. So also are the rails, the iron and steel
bridges, the water tanks, the iron work required for stations^
and all else.
Large railway workshops with rows of substantial
houses for artisans have been erected at Nikolskoye, 102
versts from Wladivostok, for the repairs of rolling stock on
the Ussuri section, and were already in full activity.
There is nothing about this Ussuri Eailway of the
newness and provisional aspect of the Western American
lines, or even of parts of the Canadian Pacific Eailroad.
The track was already ballasted as far as Ussuri (327
versts)^ steel bridges spanned the minor streams, and
substantial stations either of stone or decorated wood, with
buffets at fixed distances, successfully compare both in
stability and appearance with those of our English branch
XX THE THANS-SIBERIAN RAILROAD S3
lines, TliB tank houses are of liewn stone. HouBes for
the employiia, standing in neatly-fenoed gardens, are both
decorative and substantial, being built of cement and logs
protected by five coats of paint, and contain four rooms
each. The crossings are well laid and protected. Culverts
and retammg walls are of
solid masonry andtel^raph
wires accompany the road,
which IS worked strictly on
the block system. The as-
pect of solidity and permanence is remarkable. Even the
temporary bridge over the Ussuri, 1050 feet in length, a
trestle bridge of heavy timber to resist the impact of the
ice, is 80 massive as to make the great steel bridge, the
handsome abutments of which were already built, appear
as if it would be a work of supererogation.
T7p to that point there are no serious embankments or
cnttinga, and the gradients are easy. The cost of con-
24 A NEW EMPIBE chaf.
Btruction of the Ussuri section is 50,000 roubles per veni^
a rouble at this time being worth about 2s. 2cL This in-
cludes rolling stock, stations, and all bridges except that
over the Amur, which was to cost 3,000,000 roubles, but
may now be dispensed with owing to the diversion of the
route through Manchuria. Convict labour was abandoned
in 1894, and the line in Primorsk is being constructed by
Chinese " navvies," who earn about 80 cents per day, and
who were bearing the rigour of a Siberian winter in well-
warmed, semi-subterranean huts, the line being pushed on
as much as possible during the cold season. For the first
102 'oerstSf it passes along prettily -wooded shores of
inlets and banks of streams, and the country is fairly well
peopled, judging from the number of sleighs and the bustle
at the six stations en route. The line as far as Nikolskoye
was opened in early November 1893, and in a year had
earned 280,000 roubles. The last section had only been
open for eight weeks when I travelled upon it.
Nikolskoye, where I spent two pleasant days at the
hospitable establishment of Messrs. Kuntz and Albers, is
the only place between Wladivostok and Ussuri of any
present importance. It is a village of 8000 inhabitants on
a rich rolling prairie, watered by the Siphun. It has six
streets of grotesque width, a verst and a half long each.
There is no poverty. It is a place of rapid growth and
prosperity, the centre of a great trade in grain, and has a
largo flour-mill owned by Mr. Lindholm, a Government
contractor. It has a spacious market-place and bazaar,
and two churches. It reminds me of parts of Salt Lake
City, and the houses are of wood, plastered and whitewashed,
with corrugated iron roofe mainly. A few are thatched.
• » * - .
4 J •• •
XX A RISING SETTLEMENT 26
All stand in plots of garden ground. Utilitarianism is
supreme. I drove for 20 miles in the region round the
settlement, and everywhere saw prosperous farms and
farming villages on the prairie, Eussian and Korean, and
found the settlers kindly and hospitable, and surrounded
by material comfort. Nikolskoye is a great military
station. There were infantry and artillery to the number
of 9000, and there, as elsewhere, large new barracks were
being pushed to completion. An area of 50 acres was
covered with brick barracks, magazines, stables, driU and
parade grounds, and officers' quarters, and the miUtary
club is a reaUy fine building. Newness, progress, and
confidence in the future are as characteristic of Nikols-
koye as of any rising town in the Far West of America.
The farther journey, occupying the greater part of two
days and a night, except when near the swamps of the
Hanka Lake, is through a superb farming region. Large
villages with windmills are met with along the line for the
first 30 versts, as far as the buffet station of Spasskoje.
The stoneless soil, a rich loam 6 feet and more in depth,
produces heavy crops of oats, wheat, barley, maize, rye,
potatoes, and tobacco. Beyond Spasskoje and east of the
Hanka Lake up to the Amur a magnificent region waits to
be peopled.
Well may Eastern Siberia receive the name of Russia's
"Pacific Empire," including as it does the Amur and
Maritime provinces, with their area of 880,000 square
miles,"^ rich in gold, copper, iron, lead, and coal, and with
a soil which for a vast extent is of unbounded fer-
^ The area of France is 204,000, and that of the British Idles 120,000
square miles.
26 A NEW EMPIRE chap.
tility. When China ceded to Kussia in 1860 the region
which we call Russian Manchuria, she probably did so
in ignorance of its vast agricultural capacities and mineral
wealth.
The noble Amur, with its forest-covered shores, is navi-
gable for 1000 miles, and already 50 merchant steamers
ply upon it, and its great tributary the Ussuri can be
navigated to within 120 miles of Wladivostok. The great
basin of the Ussuri, it is estimated, could support five
million people, and from Khabaroffka to the Tumen, it is
considered by experts that the land could sustain from
20 to 40 to the square mile, while at present the population
of the Amur and Ussuri provinces is only -J-ths of a man
to the square mile !
Grass, timber, water, coal, minerals, a soil as rich as the
prairies of Illinois, and a climate not only favourable to
agriculture but to human health, all await the settler,
and the broad, unoccupied, and fertile lands which Russian
Manchuria ofifers are clamouring for inhabitants. To set
against these advantages there are the frozen waterways
and the ice-bound harbour. It is utterly impossible that
an increasing population will content itself without an
outlet for its produce. A port on the Pacific open all the
year is fast becoming as much a commercial as a political
necessity, and doubtless the opening of the Trans-Siberian
Railroad four years hence will settle the question (if it hcus
not been settled before) and doom the policy which has
shut Russia up in regions of " thick-ribbed ice " to utter
extinction.
In the Maritime Province, Russia is steadily and solidly
laying the foundations of a new empire which she purposes
XX A HOMOGENEOUS EMPIRE 27
to make as nearly as possible a homogeneous one. " No
foreigner need apply " ! The emigrants, who are going
out at the rate of from 700 to 1000 families a year, are of
a good class. Emigration is fostered in two ways. By
the first, the Grovemment grants assisted passages to heads
of families who are possessed of 600 roubles (about £60 at
present), which are deposited with a Grovemment oflScial
at Odessa, and are repaid to the emigrant on landing at
Wladivostok. The industry and thrift represented by this
sum indicate a large proportion of the best class of settlers.
Under the second arrangement, fanulies possessed of
little capital or none receive free passages. On arriving,
emigrants of both classes are lodged in excellent emigrant
barracks, and can buy the necessary agricultural im-
plements at cost price from a Government dep6t,
advice as to the purchase being thrown in. Each family
receives a free allotment of from 200 to 300 acres of
arable land, and a loan of 600 roubles, to be repaid with-
out interest in thirty-two years, the young male colonists
being exempted from military service for the same period.
Already much of the land along the line as far as the
Ussuri has been allotted, and houses are rapidly springing
up, and there is nothing to prevent this fine country from
being peopled up to the Amur, the rivers Sungacha and
Ussuri, which form the boundary of Eussia from the Hanka
Lake to Khabaroffka, giving a natural protection from
Chinese brigandage. In addition to direct emigration,
large numbers of time-expired men, chiefly Cossacks, are
encouraged to settle on lands and do so.
It would be short-sighted to minimise the importance
of the present drift of population to Eastern Siberia, which
28 A NEW EMPIRE ohap.xx
is likely to assume immense proportions on the opening
of the railway, or the commercial value of that colossal
undertaking, which is greatly enhanced by the treaty
under which Bussia has taken powers to run the Trans-
Siberian line through Chinese Manchuria. The creation
of a new route which will bring the Far East within 6000
miles and 16 days of London, and cheapen the cost of the
transit of passengers very considerably, cannot be over-
looked either. The railroad is being built for futurity,
and is an enterprise worthy of the great nation which
undertakes it."^
^ I am very glad to be able to fortify my opinion of the solid and
careful construction of this line by that of Colonel Waters, military
attach^ to the British Embassy at St. Petersburg, who has recently crossed
Siberia, and desires to give emphatic testimony to *'the magnificent
character of the great railway crossing Siberia," as well as by that of
another recent traveller, Mr. J. Y. Simpson, who, in Blaclcwood*s Magcudne
for January 1897, in an article *'The Great Siberian Iron Road," after a
long description of the laborious carefulness with which the line is being
built, writes thus : '* Lastly, one is impressed with the extremely finished
nature of the work."
CHAPTER XXI
THE king's oath — ^THE KING AND QUEEN
Leaving Wladivostok by the last Japanese steamer of the
season, I spent two days at Won-san, little changed, except
that its background of mountains was snow-covered, that
the Koreans were enriched by the extravagant sums paid
for labour by the Japanese during the war, that business
was active, and that Japanese sentries in wooden sentry-
boxes guarded the peaceful streets. Twelve thousand
Japanese troops had passed through Won-san on their way
to Phyong-yang. At Fusan, my next point, there were
200 Japanese soldiers, new waterworks, and a military
cemetery on a height, in which the number of graves
showed an enormous Japanese mortality.
Reaching Chemulpo on 5th January 1895, vid Nagasaki,
I found a singular contrast to the crowd, bustle, and ex-
citement of the previous June. In the outer harbour there
were two foreign warships only, in the inner three Japanese
merchant steamers. The former predominant military
element was represented by a few soldiers, ten large
hospital sheds, and a crowded cemetery, in which the
Japanese military dead lie in rows of 60, each grave
30 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap.
marked by a wooden obelisk. The solid and crowded
Chinese quarter, with its roaring trade, large shops, and
noise of drums, gongs, and crackers, by day and night, was
silent and deserted, and not a single Chinese was in the
street as I went up to I-tai's inn. One shop had ventured
to reopen. At night, instead of throngs, noise, lights, and
jollification, there was a solitary glimmer Arom behind a
closed shutter. The Japanese occupation had been as
destructive of that quarter of Chemulpo as a mediaeval
pestilence.
In the Japanese quarter and all along the shore the
utmost activity prevailed. The beach was stacked with
incoming and outgoing cargo. The streets were only just
passable, not alone from the enormous traffic on bulls' and
coolies' backs, but from the piles of beans and rice which
were being measured and packed on the roadway. Prices
were high, wages had more than doubled, " squeezing " was
diminished, and the Koreans were working with a wilL
I went up to Seoul on horseback, snow falling the
whole time. So safe was the country that no escort was
needed, and I rode as far as Oricol without even a mapu.
The half-way house of my first visit was a Japanese post,
and going to it in ignorance of the change, I was very
kindly received by the Japanese soldiers, who gave me tea
and a brazier of charcoal The Seoul road, pegged out by
Japanese surveyors for a railroad, was thickly sprinkled
for the whole distance with laden men and bulls.
At Seoul I was the guest of Mr. Hillier, the British
Consul-General, for five weeks. The weather was glorious,
and the mercury sank on two occasions to V below zero,
the lowest temperature on record. I received the warmest
XXI THE ASCENDENCY OF JAPAN 31
welcome from the kindly foreign community, and was
steeped in Seoul life, the political and other interests
growing upon me daily ; and having a pony and a soldier
at my disposal, I saw the city in all its turnings and
windings, and the charming country outside the gates,
and several of the Eoyal tombs with their fine trees, and
avenues of stately stone figures.
The stagnation of the previous winter was at an end.
Japan was in the ascendant. She had a large garrison in
the capital, some of the leading men in the Cabinet were
her nominees, her officers were drilling the Korean army,
changes, if not improvements, were everywhere, and the
air was thick with rumours of more to come. The King,
whose Eoyal authority was nominally restored to him,
accepted the situation, the Queen was credited with
intriguing against the Japanese, but Count Inouye was
acting as Japanese minist^er, and his firmness and tact
kept everything smooth on the surface.
On the 8th of January 1895 I witnessed a singular cere-
mony,whichmayhavefar-reaching results inKorean history.
The Japanese, having presented Korea with the gift of
Independence, demanded that the King should formally
and publicly renounce the suzerainty of China, and having
resolved to cleanse the Augean stable of official corrup-
tion, they compelled him to inaugurate the task by pro-
ceeding in semi-state to the Altar of the Spirits of the
Land, and there proclaiming Korean independence, and
swearing before the spirits of his ancestors to the
proposed reforms. His Majesty, by exaggerating a trivial
ailment, had for some time delayed a step which was very
repulsive to him, and even the day before the ceremony, a
34 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap.
the King at the last moment would resist the foreign
pressure, the procession emerged from the Palace gate —
huge flags on trident-headed poles, purple bundles carried
aloft, a stand of stones conveyed with much ceremony^
— groups of scarlet- and blue-robed men in hats of
the same colours, shaped like fools' caps, the King's
personal servants in yellow robes and yellow bamboo hats,
and men carrying bannerets. Then came the red silk
umbrella, followed not by the magnificent State chair
with its forty bearers, but by a plain wooden chair with
glass sides, in which sat the sovereign, pale and dejected,
borne by only four men. The Crown Prince followed in a
similar chair. Mandarins, ministers, and military officers
were then assisted to mount their caparisoned ponies, and
each, with two attendants holding his stirrups and two
more leading his pony, fell in behind the Home Minister,
riding a dark donkey, and rendered conspicuous by his
foreign saddle and foreign guard. When the procession
reached the sacred enclosure, the military escort and the
greater part of the cavalcade remained outside the wall,
only the King, dignitaries, and principal attendants pro-
ceeding to the altar. The grouping of the scarlet-robed
men under the dark pines was most effective from an
artistic point of view, and from a political standpoint the
taking of the following oath by the Korean King was one
of the most significant acts in the tedious drama of the
late war.
^ These are ancient musical instruments called by the Chinese ch'ing,
and were in use at courts in the days of Confucius.
XXI THE ROYAL OATH 35
THE KING'S OATH
On this ISth day of the 12th moon of the 503rd year of the
founding of the Dynasty, we presome to announce clearly to the
Spirits of an oar Sacred Imperial Ancestors that we, their lowly
deBoendant^ received in early childhood, now thirty and one years
ago, the mighty heritage of onr ancestors, and that in reverent awe
towards Heaven, and following in the rule and pattern of our
anoestoifl^ we^ thou^ we have encountered many troubles, have not
loosed hold of the thread. How dare we, your lowly descendant,
aver that we are acceptable to the heart of Heaven ? It is only
that our ancestors have graciously looked dovm upon us and
benignly protected ua Splendidly did our ancestor lay the
foundation of our Royal House, opening a way for us his de-
scendants through five hundred years and three. Now, in our
generation, the times are mightily changed, and men and matters
are expanding. A friendly Power, designing to prove &ithful, and
the deliberations of our Goundl aiding thereto, show that only as
an independent ruler can we make our country strong. How can
we, your lowly descendant, not conform to the spirit of the time
and thus guard the domain bequeathed by our ancestors ? How
venture not to strenuously exert ourselves and stiffen and anneal
ns in order to add lustre to the virtues of our predecessors ? For
all lime from now no other State will we lean upon, but will
make broad the steps of our country towards prosperity, building
up the happiness of our people in order to strengthen the founda-
tions of our independence. When we ponder on Uiis course, let
there be no sticking in the old ways, no practice of ease or of
dalliance ; but docilely let us carry out the great designs of our
ancestors, watching and observing sublunary conditions, reforming
our internal administration, remedying there accumulated abuses.
We, your lowly descendant, do now take the fourteen clauses of
the Qreat Charter and swear before the Spirits of our Ancestors in
Heaven that we, reverently trusting in the merits bequeathed by
our ancestors, will bring these to a successful issue, nor will we
dare to go back on our word. Do you, bright Spirits, descend and
behold !
36 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap
1. All thoughts of dependence on China shall be cut away, and
a firm foundation for independence secured.
2. A rule and ordinance for the Royal House shall be estab-
lished, in order to make clear the line of succession and precedence
among the Royal family.
3. The King shall attend at the Great Hall for the inspection
of afifairs, where, after personally interrogating his Ministers, he
shall decide upon matters of State. The Queen and the Royal
family are not allowed to interfere.
4. Palace matters and the government of the country must be
kept separate, and may not be mixed up together.
5. The duties and powers of the Cabinet and of the various
Ministers shall be clearly defined.
6. The payment of taxes by the people shall be regulated by
law. Wrongful additions may not be made to the list, and no
excess collected.
7. The assessment and collection of the land tax, and the dis-
bursement of expenditure, shall be under the charge and control of
the Finance Department.
8. The expenses of the Royal household shall be the first to be
reduced, by way of setting an example to the various Ministries
and local officials.
9. An estimate shall be drawn up in advance each year of the
expenditure of the Royal household and the various official estab-
lishments, putting on a fiiTu foundation the management of the
revenue.
10. The regulations of the local officers must be revised in
order to discriminate the functions of the local officials.
11. Young men of intelligence in the country shall be sent
abroad in order to study foreign science and industries.
12. The instruction of army officers, and the practice of the
methods of enlistment, to secure the foundation of a military
system.
13. Civil law and criminal law must be strictly and clearly
laid do¥m ; none must be imprisoned or fined in excess, so that
security of life and property may be ensured for all alike.
14. Men shall be employed without regard to their origin^ and
xxi THE KYENG-POK PALACE 37
in seeking for offidalB recourse shall be had to capital and country
alike in order to widen the avenues for ability.
Official translation of the text of the oath taken by His
Majesty the King of Korea, at the Altar of Heaven,
Seoul, on January 8, 1895.
Though at this date Korea is being reformed under
other than Japanese auspices, it is noteworthy that nearly
every step in advance is on the lines laid down by Japan.
Count Inouye is reported by the NvM Niohi Shiwhun
to have said regarding Korea, "In my eyes there were
only the Eoyal Family and the nation." Such a con-
clusion was legitimate in the early part of 1895, and in
arriving at it as I did I am glad to be sheltered by such an
unexceptionable authority.
Hence it was with real pleasure that I received an
invitation from the Queen to a private audience, to which
I was accompanied by Mrs. Underwood, an American
medical missionary and the Queen's physician and valued
Mend. Mr. Hillier sent me to the Kyeng-pok Palace in
an eight-bearer ofl&cial chair, escorted by the Korean Lega-
tion Guard. I have been altogether six times at this
palace, and always with increased wonder at its intricacy,
and admiration of its quaintness and beauty.
Entering by a grand three-arched gateway with its
stone-balustraded stone staircase, and stone lions on stone
pedestals below, one is bewildered by the number of large
flagged courtyards, huge audience-halls, pavilions, build-
ings of all descriptions more or less decorated, stone
bridges, narrow peissages, and gateways with double-
tiered carved roofs, through and among which one passes.
A Japanese policeman was at the grand gate. At each
38 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap.
of the interior gates, and there are many, there were eix
Korean sentries lounging, who pulled themselves together
as we approached and presented arms ! What with 800
troops 1500 attendants and
ofliciala of aU deacnptions
courtiers and mimsters and
their attendant'* secretaries
messengers and hangers on
the vast enclosure of tlie
Palice seemed as crowded and
populated as the city itself
We had nearly half a mile of
buildings to pass through he
fore we reached a veiy pretty
artificial lake with a decora
tive island pavilion m the
centre nearwhich are a foreign
palace huilt not long hefore
ind the simple Korean build
mgs then ocrupied by the
King and Queen Alighting
at the gateway of the conrt-
yai-d which led to the Queen's
house, we were received by the Court interpreter, a number
of eunuchs, two of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, and her
nurse, who was at the head of the Palace ladies— a very
privileged person, middle-aged, with decidedly fine features.
In a simple room hung with yellow silk we were enter-
tained in courteous fashion with coffee and cake on arriving,
and afterwards at dinner, the nurse, " supported " by the
Court interpreter, takmg the head of the very prettily
LiDT-m-WAmtia,
XXX THE KOREAN QUEEN 39
decorated table. The dinner was admirably cooked in
" foreign style," and included soup, fish, quails, wild duck,
pheasant, stuflfed and rolled beef, vegetables, creams, glac6
walnuts, fruit, claret, and coflfee. Several of the Court
ladies and others sat at table with us. After this long
delay we were ushered, accompanied only by the inter-
preter, into a small audience-room, upon the dais at one end
of which stood the King, the Crown Prince, and the Queen,
in front of three crimson velvet chairs, which, after Mrs.
Underwood had presented me, they resumed, and asked us
to be seated on two chairs which were provided.
Her Majesty, who was then past forty, was a very
nice-looking slender woman, with glossy raven-black hair
and a very pale skin, the pallor enhanced by the use of pearl
powder. The eyes were cold and keen, and the general
expression one of brilliant intelligence. She wore a very
handsome, very full, and very long skirt of mazarine blue
brocade, heavily pleated, with the waist under the arms,
and a full-sleeved bodice of crimson and blue brocade,
clasped at the throat by a coral rosette, and girdled by six
crimson and blue cords, each one clasped with a coral
rosette, with a crimson silk tassel hanging from it. Her
head-dress was a crownless black silk cap edged with fur,
pointed over the brow, with a coral rose and full red tassel
in front, and jewelled aigrettes on either side. Her shoes
were of the same brocade as her dress. As soon as she
began to speak, and specially when she became interested
in conversation, her face lighted up into something very
like beauty.
The King is short and sallow, certainly a plain man,
wearing a thin moustache and a tuft on the chin. He is
40 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap.
nervous and twitchea Ms liands, but bis pose and manner
are not without dignity. His lace is jjleasing, and his
XXI ROYAL COSTUME 41
kindliness of nature is well known. In conversation
the Queen prompted him a good deal He and the
Crown Prince were dressed alike in white leather shoes,
wadded silk socks, and voluminous wadded white trousers.
Over these they wore first, white silk tunics, next pale
green ones, and over all sleeveless dresses of mazarine blue
brocade. The whole costume, being exquisitely fresh,
was pleasing. On their heads they wore hats and
mang-kuns of very fine horsehair gauze, with black silk
hoods bordered with fur, for the mercury stood at
5® below zero. The Crown Prince is fat and flabby, and
though unfortunately very near-sighted, etiquette forbids
him to wear spectacles, and at that time he produced on
every one, as on me, the impression of being completely an
invalid. He was the only son and the idol of his mother, who
lived in ceaseless anxiety about his health, and in dread
lest the son of a concubine should be declared heir to the
throne. To this cause must be attributed several of her
unscrupulous acts, her invoking the continual aid of sor-
cerers, and her always -increasing benefactions to the
Buddhist monks. During much of the audience mother
and son sat with clasped hands.
After the Queen had said many kind things to me
personally, showing herself quick-witted as well as court-
eous, she said something to the King, who immediately
took up the conversation and continued it for another
half-hour. At the close of the audience I asked leave to
photograph the Lake Pavilion, and the King said, " Why
that alone? come many days and photograph many things,"
mentioning several ; and he added, " I should like you to
be suitably attended." We then curtseyed ourselves out.
42 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap.
after a very agreeable and interesting hour, and as it was
dusk, the King sent soldiers with us, and a number of
lantern-bearers, with floating drapery of red and green
silk gauze.
Two days later the " suitable attendance " turned out to
be an unwieldy and embarrassing crowd, consisting of five
military officers, half a regiment of soldiers, and a number
of Palace attendants ! I was greatly impressed by a cer-
tain grandeur and stateliness in the buildings, the vast
Hall of Audience resting on a much -elevated terrace
ascended by a triple flight of granite stairs, the noble
proportions of the building, the richly-carved ceiling with
its manifold reticulations, painted red, blue, and green, the
colossal circular pillars, red with white bases, and in the
dimness of the vast area fronting the entrance, the shadowy
splendour of the Korean throne. Grand, too, in its sim-
plicity and solidity, is the Summer Palace or "Hall of
Congratulations," on a stone platform approached by three
granite bridges, in a lotus lake of oblong form beautified
conventionally with two stone -faced islands, and by a
broad flagged promenade carried the whole way round it
on a stone -faced embankment. This palace is a noble
building. The upper hall, with its vast sweeping roof, is
supported on forty-eight granite pillars 16 feet in height
and 3 feet square at the base — all monoliths. The situation
and the views are beautiful.
During the next three weeks I had three more audiences,
on the second being accompanied as before by Mrs.
Underwood, the third being a formal reception, and the
fourth a strictly private interview, lasting over an hour.
On each occasion I was impressed with the grace and
XXI THE QUEEN'S PERSONALITY 43
charming manner of the Queen, her thoughtful kindness,
her singular intelligence and force, and her remarkable
conversational power even through the medium of an
interpreter. I was not surprised at her singular political
influence, or her sway over the King and many others.
She was surrounded by enemies, chief among them being
the Tai-Won-Kun, the King's father, all embittered against
her because by her talent and force she had succeeded in
placing members of her family in nearly all the chief
offices of State. Her life was a battle. She fought with
all her charm, shrewdness, and sagacity, for power, for the
dignity and safety of her husband and son, and for the
downfall of the Tai-Won-Kun. She had cut short many
lives, but in doing so she had not violated Korean tradi-
tion and custom, and some excuse for her lies in the fSrCt
that soon after the King's accession his father sent to the
house of Her Majesty's brother an infernal machine in
the shape of a beautiful box, which on being opened ex-
ploded, killing her mother, brother, and nephew, as well
as some others. Since then he plotted against her own
life, and the feud between them was usually at fever heat.
The dynasty is worn out, and the King, with all his
amiability and kindness of heart, is weak in character
and is at the mercy of designing men, as has appeared
increasingly since the strong sway of the Queen was with-
drawn. I believe him to be at heart, according to his
lights, a patriotic sovereign. Far from standing in the
way of reform, he has accepted most of the suggestions
offered to him. But unfortunately for a man whose edicts
become the law of the land, and more unfortunately for
the land, he is persuadable by the last person who gets
44 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap.
his ear, he lacks backbone and tenacity of purpose, and
many of the best projects of reform become abortive
through his weakness of will. To substitute constitutional
restraints for absolutism would greatly mend matters, but
cela va sans dire this could only be successful under
fore^ initiative.
The King was forty- three, the Queen a little older.
During his minority, and while he was receiving the usual
Chinese education, his father, the Tai-Won-Kun, who is
— described by a Korean writer as having " bowels of iron
and a heart of stone," ruled as Segent with excessive
vigour for ten years, and in 1866 slaughtered 2000
" Korean Catholics. Able, rapacious, and unscrupulous,
his footsteps have always been blood-stained. He even
•put to death one of his own sons. From the time when
his Eegency ceased until the murder of the Queen, Korean
political history is mainly the story of the deadly feud
between the Queen and her clan and the Tai-Won-Kun.
^ I was presented to him at the Palace, and was much im-
pressed by the vitality and energy of his expression, his
keen glance, and the vigour of his movements, though he
is an old man.
^ The King's expression is gentle. He has a wonderful
memory, and is said to know Korean history so well that
when any question as to fact or former custom arises he
can give full particulars, with a precise reference to the
reign in which any historic event occurred and to the
date. The office of Koyal Beader is not a sinecure, and
the Eoyal Library, which is contained in one of the most
beautiful buildings of the Kyeng-pok Palace, is a very
y extensive one in Chinese literatura He has no anti-
XXI THE KING AS A RULER 46
foreign feeling. His friendliness to foreigners is marked,
and in his manifold perils he has frankly relied upon their
aid. At the time of my second visit, when Japan was in
the ascendant, the King and Queen showed special atten-
tion and kindness to Europeans, and even invited the
whole foreign conmiunity to a skating party on the lake.
The King's attitude towards Christian Missions is very
friendly, and toleration is a reality. The American
medical attendants of both the King and Queen, as well as
other foreigners, with whom they were in constant contact,
were warmly attached to them, and I think that the
general feeling among Koreans is one of affectionate
loyalty, the blame for oppressive and mistaken actions
being laid on the ministers.
I have dwelt so long on the King's personality because
he is de facto the Korean Government, and not a mere
figure-head, as there is no constitution, written or un-
written, no representative assembly, and it may be said
no law except his published Edicts. He is extremely
industrious as a ruler, acquaints himself with all the work
of departments, receives and attends to an infinity of
reports and memorials, and concerns himself with all that
is done in the name of Grovemment. It is often said that
in close attention to detail he undertakes more than any
one man could perform. At the same time he has not
the capacity for getting a general grip of affairs. He has
80 much goodness of heart and so much sympathy with
progressive ideas, that if he had more force of character
and intellect, and were less easily swayed by unworthy
men, he might make a good sovereign, but his weakness
of character is fataL
46 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap.
The subjects of conversation introduced at three of my
audiences not only showed an intelligent desire for such
information as might be serviceable, but reflected the
reforms which the Japanese were pressing on the King.
I was very closely questioned as to what I had seen of
China and Siberia, as to the Siberian and Japanese rail-
roads, cost of construction per li, as to the popular feeling
in Japan concerning the war, etc. Again I was catechised
£is to the avenues to official employment in England, the
possibility of men " not of the noble class " reaching high
positions in the Government, the position of the English
nobility with regard to " privileges," and their attitude to
inferiors. On one day the whole attention of the King
and Queen was concentrated on the relations between the
English Crown and the Cabinet, specially with regard to
the Civil List, on which the King's questions were so
numerous and persistent as very nearly to pose me. He
was specially anxious to know if the " Finance Minister '*
(the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I suppose) exercised
any control over the personal expenditure of Her Majesty,
and if the Queen's personal accounts were paid by herself
or through the Treasury. The affairs under the control of
each Secretary of State were the subject of another series
of questions.
Many queries were about the duties of the Home
Minister, the position of the Premier, and his relations
with the other Ministers and the Crown. He was very
anxious to know if the Queen could dismiss her Ministers
if they failed to carry out her wishes, and it was impossible
to explain to him through an interpreter, to whom the
ideas were unfamiliar, the constitutional checks on the
r
^B.£nglish Crown, and that the sovereign only nominally
^Bipossesaes the right of choosing her MinisterB.
^H Just hefore I left Korea, I waa Bummoned to a farewell
^Kaudience, and asked to take the Legation interpreter with
^y me, I went in an
I eight-bearer chair, and
was received with the
, usual honours, soldiers
[ipresenting anna, etc. !
I There was no crowd
kof attendants and no
I delay. As I was being
|^eBCorted down a closed
.ah by several
I.eunuchs and military
■officers, a sliding
■-window was opened
the King, who
Bbeckoned to me to
I enter, and then closed
I found myself in
I the raised alcove in
which the Royal
^_ Family usually sat,
^^t.but the sliding panels
^B between it and the
1^^ audience -chamber were closed, and aa it is not more
than 6 feet wide, it waa impossible to make the customary
profound curtseys. Instead of the usual throng of at-
. tendants, eunuchs, ladies-in-waiting in silk gowns a yard
p'too long for them, and heavy coils and pillows of arti-
A FAREWELL AUDIENCE
48 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap.
ficial hair on their heads, and privileged persons stand-
ing behind the King and Queen and crowding the many
doorways, there were present only the Queen's nurse and
my interpreter, who stood at a chink between the panels
where he could not see the Queen, bent into an attitude of
abject reverence, never lifting his eyes from the ground or
raising his voice above a whisper. The precautions, how-
ever, failed to secure the privacy which the King and
Queen desired. I was certain that through the chink I
saw the shadow of a man in the audience-room, and the
interpreter's subsequent remark, "It was very hard {or
me to interpret for His Majesty to-day," was intelligible
when I heard that the " shadow " belonged to one of the
Ministers of State specially distrusted by the King, and
who later had to fly from Korea. It was understood that
this person carried the substance of what the King and
Queen said to a foreign legation.
I cannot here allude to the matter on which the King
spoke, but the audience, which lasted for an hour, was an
extremely interesting one. On one point the King ex-
pressed himself very strongly, as he has done to many
others. He considers that, now that Korea is formally
independent of China, she is entitled to a Besident
Minister accredited solely to the Korean Court. He
expressed great regard and esteem for Mr. Hillier, and
said that nothing would be more acceptable to him than
his appointment as the first Minister to Korea.
The Queen spoke of Queen Victoria, and said, " She has
everything that she cfiui wish — greatness, wealth, and power.
Her sons and grandsons are kings and emperors, and her
daughters empresses. Does she ever in her glory think of
XXI A FAREWELL AUDIENCE 49
poor Korea ? She does so much good in the world, her
life is a good. We wish her long life and prosperity *' ; to
which the King added, " England is our best friend." It
was really touching to hear the occupants of that ancient
but shaky throne speaking in this fashion.
On this occasion the Queen was dressed in a bodice of
brocaded amber satin, a mazarine blue brocaded trained
skirt, a crimson girdle with five clasps and tassels of coral,
and a coral clasp at the throat. Her head was uncovered,
and her abundant black hair gathered into a knot at the
back. She wore no ornament except a pearl and coral
jewel on the top of the head. The King and Queen rose
when I took leave, and the Queen shook hands. They
both spoke most kindly, and expressed the wish that I
should return and see more of Korea. When I did return
nine months later, the Queen had been barbarously mur-
dered, and the King was practically a prisoner in his own
palace.
Travellers received by the Korean King have often
ridiculed the audience, the surroundings, and the Palace.
I must say that I saw nothing to ridicule, unless national
customs and etiquette varying from our own are necessarily
ridiculous. On the contrary, there were a simplicity, dignity,
kindliness, courtesy, and propriety which have left a very
agreeable impression on me, and my four audiences at
the Palace were the great feature of my second visit to
Korea.
VOL. II E
CHAPTEE XXII
A TRANSITION STAGE — ^" GREAT FIFTEENTH DAY"
During January 1895, Seoul was in a curious condition.
The " old order " was changing, but the new had not taken
its place. The Japanese, victorious by land and sea, were
in a position to enforce the reforms in which before the
war they had asked China to co-operate. The King, since
the capture of the Palace by the Japanese in July 1894,
had become little more than a '' salaried automaton," and
the once powerful members of the Min clan had been
expelled from their offices. The Japanese were prepared
to accept the responsibility of the supervision of all depart-
ments, and to enforce honesty on a corrupt executive.
The victory over the Chinese at Phyong-yang on 17th Sep-
tember 1894 had set them free to carry out their purposes.
Count Inouye, one of the foremost of the statesmen who
created the new Japan, arrived as " Eesident " on October
20, 1894, and practically administered the Government in
the King's name. There were Japanese controllers in all
the departments, the army was drilled by Japanese drill
instructors, a police force was organised and clothed in
badly-fitting Japanese uniforms, a Council of Koreans was
OHAP. xxn JAPANESE BEFOBICS 51
appointed to draft a scheme of refonn, and form the
nndeuB of a possible Korean Parliament, and Oount
Inonye as Japanese adviser had the right of continual
access to the King, and with an interpreter and steno-
grapher sat at the meetings of the Cabinet. Every day
Japanese ascendency was apparent in new appointments,
r^olations, abolitions, and reforms. The Japanese claimed
that their purpose was to reform the administration of
Korea as we had done that of Egypt, and I believe they
would have done it had they been allowed a free hand. It
was apparent, however, that Count Inouye found the task
of reformation a far harder one than he expected, and that
the diflSculties in his way were nearly insurmountable.
He said himself that there were " no tools to work with,"
and in the hope of manufacturing them a large number
of youths of the upper class were sent for two years to
Japan, one year to be spent in education and another in
learning accuracy and " the first principles of honour " in
certain Government departments.
Sundry Japanese demands, though conceded at the time
by the King, had been allowed to drop, and it W6W not till
December 1894 that Count Inouye obtained a formal cove-
nant that five of them should be at once carried out. (1) A
full pardon for all the conspirators of 1884 ; (2) That the
Tai-Won-Kun and the Queen should interfere no more in
public affairs ; (3) That no relatives of the Eoyal Family
should be employed in any official capacity ; (4) That the
number of eunuchs and " Palace ladies " should at once be
reduced to a minimum; (5) That caste distinctions —
patrician and plebeian — should no longer be recognised.
Edicts on some of the foregoing subjects appeared in
62 A TRANSITION STAGE ohap.
the Gfazette, and large numbers of the eunuchs packed up
their clothes and left the Palace quietly in the night, along
with the " Palace ladies "; but the King in his vast dwelling
was so lonely without them that the next morning he sent
an order commanding their immediate return under serious
penalties, and it was obeyed at once !
The attitude of the Korean official class, with the excep-
tion of a small number who were personally interested in
the success of Japan, was altogether unfavourable to the new
rigimey and every change was regarded with indignation.
Though destitute of true patriotism, the common people
looked upon the King as a sacred person, and they were
furious at the indignities to which he had been subjected.
The official class saw that reform meant the end of" squeez-
ing " and ill-gotten gains, and they, with the whole army
of parasites and hangers-on of Yamens, were all pledged by
the strongest personal interest to oppose it by active
opposition or passive resistance. Though corruption has
its stronghold in Seoul, every provincial government re-
peats on a smaller scale the iniquities of the capital, and
has its own army of dishonest and lazy officials fattening
on the earnings of the industrious classes.
The cleansing of the Augean stable of the Korean
official system, which the Japanese had undertaken, was
indeed an Herculean labour. Traditions of honour and
honesty, if they ever existed, had been forgotten for
centuries. Standards of official rectitude were unknown.
In Korea when the Japanese undertook the work of reform
there were but two classes, the robbers and the robbed, and
the robbers included the vast army which constituted
officialdom. "Squeezing" and peculation were the rule
xxn THE TRANSITION STAGE 63
from the highest to the lowest, and every position was
bought and sold.
The transition stage, down to 12th February 1895, when
I left Korea, was a remarkable one. The Official Gazette
curiously reflected that singular period. One day a decree
aboli£^ed the three-feet-long tobacco pipes which were the
delight of the Koreans of the capital ; another, there was
an enlightened statute ordering the planting of pines to
remedy the denudation of the hills around Seoul, the same
Gazette directing that duly-appointed geomancers should
find " an auspicious day " on which the King might worship
at the ancestral tablets! One day barbarous and brutalis-
ing punishments were wisely abolished; another, there
appeared a string of vexatious and petty regulations
calculated to harass the Chinese out of the kingdom, and
a{)pointing as a punishment for the breach of them a fine
of 100 dollars or 100 blows !
Failure in tact was one great fault of the Japanese. The
seizure of the Palace and the King's person in July 1894,
even if a dubious politieal necessity, did not excuse the
indignities to which the sovereign was exposed. The
forcing of former conspirators into high office was a grave
error, and tactless proceedings, such as the abolition of
long pipes, alterations in Court and other dress, many
interferences with social customs, and petty and harassing
restrictions and regulations, embittered the people against
the new r^me.
The Tong-haks, who had respectftdly thrown ofif alle-
giance to the King on the ground that he was in the hands
of foreigners, and had appointed another sovereign, had
been vanquished early in January, and then- king's head
64 A TEAN8ITI0N STAGE OHAP.
had been eent to Seoul by a loyal governor. There I saw
it in the busieBt part of the Peking Koad, a buatling market
outride the "little West Gate," hanging from a rnde
arrangement of tOuee
sticks like a camp-
kettle stand, with an-
other head below it
Both faces wore a
calm, almost dignified,
ezpieaaion. Not for
ofT two more heads
had been exposed in
a similar frame, hat
it had given way, and
they lay in the dost
of the roadway, maoh
gnawed by dogs at
' the back. The last
f^ony was stiffened
on their features. A
turnip lay beside
them, and some small
children cat pieces
from it and presented them mockingly to the blackened
mouths. This brutalieing spectacle had existed for a
week.
Three days later, in the atUlness of the Korean New
Year's Day, I rode with a friend along a lonely road pass-
ing throngh a fair agricultural valley among pine-clotbed
knolls outside the South and East Gates of Seoul Snow
lay on the ground and the grim sky threatened a farther
xm EXPOSURE OF HEADLESS BODIES 66
storm. It was cold, and we observed with surprise three
coolies in summer cotton clothing lying by the roadside
asleep ; but it was the last sleep, for on approaching them
we found that, though their attitudes were those of easy
repose, the bodies were without heads, nor had the heads-
man's axe been merciful or sharp. In the middle of the
road were great, frozen, crimson splashes where the Tong-
hak leaders had expiated their treason, criminals in Korea,
as in old Jerusalem, suffering " without the gate."
A few days later an order appeared in the Gazette
abolishing beheading and " slicing to death," and substi-
tuting death by strangulation for civil, and by shooting for
military capital crimes. This order practically made an
end of the prerogative of life and death heretofore possessed
by the Korean sovereigns.
So the "old order" was daily changing under the
pressure of the Japanese advisers, and on the whole
changing most decidedly for the better, though, owing to
the number of reforms decreed and in, contemplation,
everything was in a tentative and chaotic stata Korea
was " swithering " between China and Japan, afraid to go
in heartily for the reforms initiated by Japan lest China
should regain position and be "down" upon her, and
afraid to oppose them actively lest Japan should be per-
manently successful.
On that same New Year's Day there was more to be
seen than headless trunks. Through the length of Seoul,
towards twilight, an odour of burning hair overpowered
the aromatic scent of the pine brush, and all down every
street, outside every door, there were red glimmers of
light. It is the custom in every family on that day to
66 "GREAT FIFTEENTH DAY'' chap.
carry out the carefuUy-preserved cUppings and combings
of the family hair and burn them in potsherds, a practice
which it is hoped will prevent the entrance of certain
daemons into the house during the year. Eude straw dolls
stuffed with a few cash were also thrown into the street
This eflSgy is believed to take away troubles and foist them
on whoever picks it up. To prevent such a vicarious
calamity, more than one mother on that evening pounced
upon a child who child-like had picked up the doll and
threw it far from him.
On that night round pieces of red or white paper placed
in cleft sticks are put upon the roofs of houses, and those
persons who have been warned by the sorcerers of troubles
to come, pray (?) to the moon to remove them.
A common Korean custom on the same day is for people
to paint images on paper, and to write against them their
Jble. of Ly o, 'JLd, .tte™* gi:^ «« p.p« .0 .
boy who bums it.
A more singular New Year custom in Seoul is " Walk-
ing the Bridges." Up to midnight, men, women, and
children cross a bridge or bridges as many times a^ they
are years old. This is believed to prevent pains in the
feet and legs during the year.
This day, the " Great Fifteenth Day," concludes the kite-
flying and stone fights which enliven Seoul for the previouB
fortnight, and every Korean insists on keeping it as a
holiday. Graves are formally visited, and gathered families
spread food before the ancestral tablets. Curious customs
prevail at this time. A few days before, the Palace
eunuchs chant invocations, swinging burning torches as
they do so. This is supposed to ensure bountiful crops for
xm NEW YEAH SUPERSTITIONS 57
the next season. People buy quantities of nuts, which
they crack, hold the kernels in the mouth, and then throw
them away. This is to prevent summer sores and boils.
Also on the Great Fifteenth Day men try to find out the
probable rainfall for each month by splitting a small piece
of bamboo, and laying twelve beans side by side in one of
the halves, after which it is closed, and after being bound
tightly with cord, is lowered into a well for the night.
Each bean represents a month. In the morning, when
they are examined in rotation, they are variously enlarged,
and the' enlargement indicates the proportion of rain in
that special moon. If, on the contrary, one or more are
wizened, it causes great alarm, as indicating complete or
partial drought in one or more months. Dogs do not get
their usual meal on the morning of the " Great Fifteenth,"
in the belief that the deprivation will keep them from
being pestered with flies during the long summer.
K a boy has been bom during the year, poles bearing
paper fish by day and lanterns by night project from the
house of the parents. The people at night watch the
burning of candles. If they are entirely burned, the life
of the child will be long ; if only partially burned, it will
be proportionately shorter.
I left Seoul very regretfully on 5th February. The
Japanese had introduced jinrikshas, but the runners
were unskilled, and I met with so severe an accident in
going down to Chemulpo that I did not recover for a year.
The line of steamers to Japan was totally disorganised by
the war, and in the week that I waited for the Sigo Maru
war was uppermost in people's thoughts. There were some
who even then could not bring themselves to believe in
/"
58 "GREAT FIFTEENTH DAY" chap.
the eventual success of the Japanese. The fall of Wei-
hai-wei and the capture of the Chinese fleet opened many
eyes. I was in the oflBce of the " N.Y.K." when the news
came, and the clerks were too wild with excitement to
attend to me, apologising by saying, " It's another victory!"
Chemulpo was decorated, illuminated, and processioned for
victories, li Hung Chang was burned in eflBgy, and un-
limited salce for all comers was supplied from tubs at the
street comers.
There were indications of the cost of victory, however.
The great military hospitals were full, the cemetery was
filling fast, military funerals with military pomp and
Shinto priests passed down the bannered street, and 600
transport cooUes tramping from Manchuria arrived in rags
and tatters, some clothed in raw hides and raw skins of
sheep, their feet, hands, and lips frost-bitten, and with
blackened stumps of fingers and toes protruding &om
filthy bandages. The Japanese schools teach that Japan
has a right to demand all that a man has, and that life
itseK is not too costly a sacrifice for him to lay on the
altar of his country. Undoubtedly the teaching bears
fruit. Not long before at Osaka I saw the wharves piled
high with voluntary contributions for the troops, and the
Third Army leave the city amidst an outburst of popular
enthusiasm such as I never saw equalled. Most of these
coolies, when they received new clothing, volunteered for
further service, and dying soldiers on battlefields and in
hospitals uttered " Dai Nippon Banzai ! " (Great Japan for
ever !) with their last faltering breath.
When I left Korea the condition of things may be
summarised thus. Japan was thoroughly in earnest as
xxn JAPANESE ASCENDENCY 69
to reforming the Korean administration through Koreans,
and very many reforms were decreed or in contemplation,
while some evils and abuses were already swept away.
The King, deprived of his absolute sovereignty, was prac-
tically a salaried registrar of decrees. Count Inouye
occupied the position of " Kesident," and the Government
was administered in the King's name by a Cabinet con-
sisting of the heads of ten departments, in some measure
the nominees of the "Eesident."^
^ I repeat this statement in this form for the benefit of the reader, and
ask him to compare it with a sommary of Korean affairs early in 1897,
given in chapter zxxyi of this yolume.
CHAPTER XXIII
A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY
In May 1895 a treaty of peace between China and Japan
was signed at Shimonoseki, a heavy indemnity, the island
of Formosa, and a great accession of prestige, being the
gains of Japan. From thenceforward no' power having
interests in the Far East could a£ford to regard her as a
guantitS n^ligSaile,
After travelling for some months in South and Mid
China, and spending the summer in Japan, I arrived in
'^ Nagasaki in October 1895, to hear a rumour of the assas-
sination of the Korean Queen, afterwards confirmed on
board the Swruga Mam by Mr. SUl, the American Minister,
who was hurrying back to his post in Seoul in con-
sequence of the disturbed state of affairs. I went up
immediately from Chemulpo to the capital, where I was
^ Mr. Hillier's guest at the English Legation for two
exciting months.
The native and foreign communities were naturally
much excited by the tragedy at the Palace, and the
treatment which the King was receiving. Count Inouye,
whose presence in Seoul always produced confidence, had
CH. xxin THE QUEEN AND COUNT INOUYE 61
left a month before, and had been succeeded by General
Viscount Miura, a capable soldier, without diplomatic
experience.
In an interview which Count Inouye had with the
Queen shortly before his departure, speaking of the
ascendency of the Tai-Won-Kun, after the capture of the
Palace by Mr. Otori in the previous July, Her Majesty
said, " It is a matter of regret to me that the overtures made
by me towards Japan were rejected. The Tai-Won-Kun,
on the other hand, who showed his unfriendliness towards
Japan, was assisted by the Japanese Minister to rise in
power."
In the despatch in which Count Inouye reported this
interview to his Government he wrote :—
I gave as £Eur as I could an explanation of these things to the
Queen, and after so allaying her suspicions, I further explained that
it was the true and sincere desire of the Emperor and Gktvemment
of Japan to place the independence of Korea on a firm basis, and
in the meantime to strengthen the Royal House of Korea. In the
everU of any member of the Royal Famihfy or indeed any Korean,
therefore attempting treason against the Royal House, I gave the assv/r-
ance that the Japanese Ooverwment wovM not fail to protect the Royal
House even by force of arms, and so secv/re the safety of the kmgdom.
These remarks of mine seemed to have moved the King and Queen,
and their anxiety for the future appeared to be much relieved.
The Korean sovereigns would naturally think them-
selves justified in relying on the promise so frankly given
by one of the most distinguished of Japanese statesmen,
whom they had learned to regard with confidence and
respect, and it is clear to myself that when the fateful
night came, a month later, their reliance on this assurance
62 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY chap.
led them to omit certain possible precautions, and caused
the Queen to neglect to make her escape at the first hint
of danger.
When the well-known arrangement between Viscount
Miura and the Tai-Won-Kun was ripe for execution, the
Japanese Minister directed the Commandant of the
Japanese battalion quartered in the barracks just otitside
the Palace gate to facilitate the Tai-Won-Kun's entry into
the Palace by arranging the disposition of the Kv/nr-ren-tai
(Korean troops drilled by Japanese), and by calling out
the Imperial force to support them. Miura also called
upon two Japanese to collect their Mends, go to Biong
San on the Han, where the intriguing Prince was then
living, and act as his bodyguard on his journey to the
Palace. The Minister told them that on the success of
the enterprise depended the eradication of the evils which
had afflicted the kingdom for twenty years, and instigated
THEM TO DESPATCH THE QUEEN WHEN THEY ENTERED THE
Palace. One of Miura's agents then ordered the Japanese
policemen who were off duty to put on civilian dress,
provide themselves with swords, and accompany the con-
spirators to the Tai-Won-Kun's house.
At 3 AM. on the morning of the 8th of October they left
Eiong San, escorting the Prince's palanquin, Mr. Okamoto,
to whom much had been entrusted, assembling the whole
party when on the point of departure, and declaring to
them that on entering the Palace the " Fox " should be dealt
with according " as exigency might require." Then this
procession, including ten Japanese who had dressed them-
selves in uniforms taken from ten captured Korean police,
started for Seoul, more than three miles distant. Outside
xxra THE HIROSHIMA JUDGMENT 63
•
the " Gate of Staunch Loyalty " they were met by the Kun-
Ten4ai, and then waited for the arrival of the Japanese
troops, after which they proceeded at a rapid pace to the
Palace, entering it by the front gate, and after killing
some of the Palace Guard, proceeded a quarter of a mile to
the buildings occupied by the King and Queen, which have
a narrow courtyard in front.
So far I have followed the Hiroshima judgment in its
statement of the facts of that morning, but when it has
conducted the combined force to " the inner chambers " it
concludes abruptly with a " not proven " in the case of all
the accused ! For the rest of the story, so far as it may
interest my readers, I follow the statements of General
Dye and Mr. Sabatin of the King's Guard, and of certain
ofGicial documents.
It is necessary here to go back upon various events
wliich preceded the murder of Her Majesty. Trouble
arose in October between the Kun-ren-tai and the Seoul
police, resulting in the total defeat of the latter. The
Krm-re7i-tai, numbering 1000, were commanded by Colonel
Hong, who in 1882 had rescued the Queen from imminent
danger, and was trusted by the Royal Family. The Palace
was in the hands of the Old Guard under Colonel Hyon,
who had saved Her Majesty's life in 1884. In the first
week of October the strength of this Guard was greatly
reduced, useful weapons were quietly withdrawn, and the
ammunition was removed.
On the night of the 7th the Kun-ren-tai, with their
Japanese instructors, marched and countermarched till
they were fomid on all sides of the Palace, causing some
uneasiness within. The alarm was given to General Dye
64 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY ohap.
and Mr. Sabatin early on the morning of the 8th.^ These
oflBcers, looking through a chink of the gate, saw a number
of Japanese soldiers with fixed bayonets standing there,
who, on being asked what they were doing, filed right and
left out of the moonlight under the shadow of the walL
Skulking under another part of the wall were over 200 of
the Kun-ren-tai. The two foreigners were consulting as
to the steps to be taken when heavy sounds of battering
came from the grand entrance gate, followed by firing.
Greneral Dye attempted to rally the Guard, but after five
or six volleys from the assailants they broke with such a
rush as to sweep the two foreigners past the King's house
to the gateway of the Queen's. No clear account has ever
been given of the events which followed. Colonel Hong,
the commander of the Kun-ren-tai, was cut down by a
Japanese officer at the great gate, and was afterwards
mortally wounded by eight bullets. The Kvmr-refnAai
swarmed into the Palace from all directions, along with
Japanese civilians armed with swords, who frantically
demanded the whereabouts of the Queen, hauling the
Palace ladies about by the hair to compel them to point
out Her Majesty, rushing in and out of windows, throwing
the ladies-in-waiting from the seven-feet-high verandah
into the compound, cutting and kicking them, and brutaUy
murdering two in the hope that they had thus secured
their victim.
Japanese troops also entered the Palace, and formed in
military order under the command of their officers round
^ General Dye, late of the U.S. anny, was instructor of the Old Guard.
Mr. Sabatin, a Russian subject, was temporarily employed as a watchman
to see that the sentries were at their posts.
XXIII THE QUEEN ASSASSINATED 65
the small courtyard of the King's house and at its gate,
protecting the assassins in their murderous work. Before
this force of Japanese regulars arrived there was a flying
rout of servants, runners, and Paletce Guards rushing from
every point of the vast enclosure in mad haste to get out
of the gates. As the Japanese entered the building, the
unfortunate King, hoping to divert their attention and give
the Queen time to escape, came into a front room where he
could be distinctly seen. Some of the Japanese assassins
rushed in brandishing their swords, pulled His Majesty
about, and beat and dragged about some of the Palace
ladies by the hair in his presence. The Crown Prince, who
was in an inner room, was seized, his hat torn off and
broken, and he was pulled about by the hair and threatened
with swords to make him show the way to the Queen, but
he managed to reach the King, and they have never been
separated since.
The whole affair did not occupy much more than an
hour. The Crown Prince saw his mother rush down a
passage followed by a Japanese with a sword, and there
was a general rush of assassins for her sleeping apartments.
In the upper storey the Crown Princess was found with
several ladies, and she was dragged by the hair, cut with
a sword, beaten, and thrown downstairs. Yi Kyong-jik,
Minister of the Koyal Household, seems to have given the
alarm, for the Queen was dressed and was preparing to
run and hide herself. When the murderers rushed in, he
stood with outstretched arms in front of Her Majesty,
trying to protect her, furnishing them with the clue they
wanted. They slashed off both his hands and inflicted
other wounds, but he contrived to drag himself along
VOL. II F
66 A DARK CHAPTER OF EOEEAN HISTORY chap.
the Terandah into the King's presence, where he bled to
death.
The Queen, flying from the aBsasainB, was overtaken
and stabbed, falling down as if dead, but one account says
that, recovering a little, she asked if the Crown Prince, her
idol, was safe, on which a Japanese jumped on her breast
and stabbed her through and through with his sword.
Even then, though the nurse whom I formerly saw in
attendance on her covered lier face, it is not certain that
she was dead, but the Japanese laid her on a plank,
wrapped a silk quilt round her, and she was carried to a
grove of piues in the adjacent deer park, where kerosene
oil waa poured over the body, which was surrounded by
fagots and burned, only a few small bones escaping
destruction.
'T- Thus perished, at the age of forty-four, by the hands of
foreign assassins, instigated to their bloody work by the
Minister of a friendly power, the clever, ambitioua, in-
xxm AFTER THE MVRDEK «t
triguii^ fiflrinating. and in nuuiy ly^v^'l^ K^v^M^
Queen of Kooml In her lifiL^'liuie i\mni ln\M^\>^. wh^^m^
verdict for many reasons umj Nl^ ao<^)Ui;k)« smiu), '' Ht^v
Majesty has few equals among her ctHU\trym<M\ fur «i)\i^w\)
ness and sagacity. In the art of concilinUiiK ^^^^ t^ut>u^ti^
and winning the confidence of her sH>rvautii Mht^ h«Mi uo
equals."
A short time after daylight the T)u-Won-K\ni Umtml
two proclamations, of which the following HonUMUH^M utii
specimens : —
Ist, **The hearts of the people diaaolve throuKh iho pruMntttfH ill
the Palace of a crowd of base fellows. Ho tliit National (Iratiil
Duke is returned to power to inaugurate i!liant(iM, nxpsl tlm Inmm
fellows, restore former laws, and vindicate tks dlKiiliy i»f Ills
Majesty.''
2nd, << I have now entered the Palace ii> aid Ills MsJ^siy, »n\m\ iim
low fellows^ perfect that which will }m a htttrnfii, sav«i ilm tamitiry,
and intiodnee peace."
The Palace gates were guanWl t;y Um muiUu^m Him
rai'tai with fixed hay<inetii, wly^ all//w^i « f'jinmUiUi
stzeam of Koreans to p«a0 oat, th« r*nMtH$$Ui //f Urn 01/1
Fdaee Goaid, who bad thrown off ttMrir uuiUm$m h$$A
hidden thetr an&i, eaefa uao b^fl^ t^yM h$$4 mtn^ii^^t
faefere ia^ exit w^ yxuaVifA. S^s^ tl^ j$t4^ wm h^^^'uh-
■OB pKil iMririfigtflfeyA wbi^pe 0>loM» Mz/fi^ M\, Vf0^
€t utt ILsam^n wen ^» ^;r«^ i'jmMM^A U'm ^i^Af ^M#,
is fi^ IC^arlj ^*rT 'uw; •Vy w^ U^oM^ if 1t^ Kk^
68 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY chap.
who, later, when they did not find the Cabinet, which was
chiefly of their own creation, sufficiently subservient, used
to threaten it with drawn swords.
Viscount Miura arrived at the Palace at daylight, with
Mr. Sugimura, Secretary of the Japanese Legation (who
had arranged the details of the plot), and a certain Japanese
who had been seen by the King apparently leading the
assassins, and actively participating in the bloody work,
and had an audience of His Majesty, who was profoundly
agitated. He signed three documents at their bidding,
after which the Japanese troops were withdrawn from the
Palace, and the armed forces, and even the King's personal
attendants, were placed under the orders of those who had
been concerned in the attack. The Tai-Won-Kun was
present at this audience.
During the day all the Foreign Representatives had
audiences of the King, who was much agitated, sobbed at
intervals, and, believing the Queen to have escaped, was
very solicitous about his own safety, as he was environed
by assassins, the most unscrupulous of all being his own
father. In violation of custom, he grasped the hands of
the Eepresentatives, and asked them to use their friendly
offices to prevent further outrage and violence. He was
anxious that the Kun-ren-tai should be replaced by Japanese,
troops. On the same afternoon the Foreign Eepresentatives
met at the Japanese Legation to hear Viscount Miura's
explanation of circumstances in which his countrymen
were so seriously implicated.
Three days after the events in the Palace, and while
the King and the general public believed the Queen to^be
alive, a so-called Boyal Edict, a more infamous outrage on
xxra OUTRAGE ON THE QUEEN 69
the Queen .even than her brutal assassmation, was published
in the Official Gazette. The King on being asked to sign it
refused, and said he would have his hands cut oflF rather,
but it appeared as his decree, and bore the signatures of
the Minister of the Household, the Prime Minister, and
six other members of the Cabinet.
ROYAL EDICT
It is now thirty-two years since We ascended the throne, but
Our ruling influence has not extended wide. The Queen Min
introduced her relatives to the Court and placed them about Our
person, whereby she made dull Our senses, exposed the people to
extortion, put Our Government in disorder, selling offices and titles.
Hence tyranny prevailed all over the country and robbers arose in
all quarters. Under these circumstances the foundation of Our
dynasty was in imminent peril. We knew the extreme of her
wickedness, but could not dismiss and punish her because of help-
lessness and fear of her party.
We desire to stop and suppress her influence. In the twelfth
moon of last year we took an oath at Our Ancestral Shrine that the
Queen and her relatives and Ours should never again be allowed to
interfere in State affairs. We hoped this would lead the Min
faction to mend their ways. But the Queen did not give up her
wickedness, but with her party aided a crowd of low fellows to rise
up about Us and so managed as to prevent the Ministers of State
£rom consulting Us. Moreover, they have forged Our signature to
a decree to disband Our loyal soldiers, thereby instigating and
raising a disturbance, and when it occurred she escaped as in the
Im year. We have endeavoured to discover her whereabouts,
but as she does not come forth and appear We are convinced that
she is not only unfitted and unworthy of the Queen's rank, but also
that her guilt is excessive and brimful. Therefore with her We
may not succeed to the glory of the Royal Ancestry. So We hereby
70 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY chap.
depose her from the rank of Queen and reduce her to the level of
the lowest class.
Signed by
Yi Chai-mton, Minister of the Royal Household
Kim Hong-ohip, Prime Minister.
Km YuN-siK, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Pak Chong-yano, Minister of Home Affairs.
Shim Sanq-hun, Minister of Finance.
Cho Hbui-yon, Minister of War.
So KwANG-POM, Minister of Justice.
So KwANG-POM, Minister of Education.
Chong Pyong-ha, Vice-Minister of Agriculture and
Commerce.
On the day following the issue of this fraudulent and
infamous edict, another appeared in which Her Majesty,
out of pity for the Crown Prince and as a reward for his
deep devotion to his father, was "raised" by the King to
the rank of " Concubine of the First Order"!
The diplomats were harassed and anxious, and met
constantly to discuss the situation. Of course the state
of extreme tension was not caused solely by " happenings "
in Korea and their local consequences. For behind this
well-executed plot, and the diabolical murder of a defence-
less woman, lay a terrible suspicion, which gained in
strength every hour during the first few days after the
tragedy till it intensified into a certainty, of which people
spoke as in cipher, by hints alone, that other brains than
Korean planned the plot, that other than Korean hands
took the lives that were taken, that the sentries who
guarded the King's apartments while the deed of blood
was being perpetrated wore other than Korean uniforms,
and that other than Korean bayonets gleamed in the
shadow of the Palace walL
xxm THE CONSPIRATORS ACQUITTED 71
People spoke their suspicions cautiously, though
the evidence of General Dye and of Mr. Sabatin pointed
unmistakably in one direction. So early as the day
after the affair, the question which emerged was, "Is
Viscount General Miura criminally implicated or not ? "
It is needless to go into particulars on this subject. Ten ^
days after the tragedy at the Palace, the Japanese Govern- ^
ment, which was soon proved innocent of any compUcity
in the affair, recalled and arrested Viscount Miura,
Sugimura, and Okamote, Adviser to the Korean War
Department, who, some months later, along with forty-five
others, were placed on their trial before the Japanese
Court of First Instance at Hiroshima, and were acquitted
on the technical ground that there was "no sufficient
evidence te prove that any of the accused actually
committed the crime originally meditated by them," this
crime, according to the judgment, being that two of the
accused, " at the instigation of Miura, dbcidbd to
MT7BDEB THE QuEEN, and took steps by collecting accom-
plices . . . more than ten others were directed by these
two persons to do away with the Queen."
Viscount Miura was replaced by Mr. Komura, an able '
diplomatist, and shortly afterwards Count Inouye arrived,
bearing the condolences of the Emperor of Japan to the
unfortunate Korean King. A heavier blow to Japanese
prestige and position as the leader of civilisation in the
East could not have been struck, and the Covemment
continues to deserve our sympathy on the occasion. For
when the disavowal is forgotten, it will always be remem- "
bered that the murderous plot was arranged in the
Japanese Legation, and that of the Japanese dressed as
72 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY chap.
civilians and armed with swords and pistols, who were
directly engaged in the outrages committed in the Palace,
— some were advisers to the Korean Government and in its
pay, and others were Japanese policemen connected with
the Japanese Legation — sixty persons in all, including
those known as SosM, and exclusive of the Japanese troops.
^ The Foreign Eepresentatives with one exception informed
the Cabinet that until steps were taken to bring the
assassins to justice, till the Kun-ren-tai Guard was removed
from the Palace, and till the recently-introduced members
of the Cabinet who were responsible for the outrages
had been arraigned or at least removed from oflBce, they
declined to recognise any act of the Government, or to
accept as authentic any order issued by it in the King's
name. The prudence of this course became apparent later.
On 15th October, in an extra issue of the Official
Gazette, it was announced " By Eoyal Command " that, as
the position of Queen must not remain vacant for a day,
proceedings for the choice of a bride were to begin at once !
This was only one among the many insults which were
heaped upon the Eoyal prisoner.
During the remainder of October and November there
^ was no improvement in affairs. The gloom was profound.
Instead of Eoyal receptions and entertainments, the King,
shaken by terror and in hourly dread of poison or
assassination, was a close prisoner in a poor part of his
own palace, in the hands of a Cabinet chiefly composed
of men who were the tools of the mutinous soldiers who
were practically his gaolers, compelled to put his seal to
edicts which he loathed, the tool of men on whose hands
the blood of his murdered Queen was hardly dry. .Nothing
xxra THE KING A PRISONER 73
could be more pitiable than the condition of the King and
Crown Prince, each dreading that the other would be
slain before his eyes, not daring to eat of any food pre-
pared in the Palace, dreading to be separated, even for a
few minutes, without an adherent whom they could trust,
and with recent memories of infinite horror as food for
contemplation.
General Dye, the American military adviser, an old /
and feeble man, slept near the Palace Library, and the
American missionaries in twos took it in turns to watch
with him. This was the only protection which the un-
fortunate sovereign possessed. He was also visited daily y-
by the Foreign Eepresentatives in turns, with the double
object of ascertaining that he was alive and assuring him
of their sympathy and interest. Food was supplied to ^
him in a locked box from the Eussian or U.S. Legation,
but so closely was he watched, that it was difficult to
pass the key into his hand, and a hasty and very occasional
whisper was the only communication he could succeed in
making to these foreigners, who were his sole reliance.
Undoubtedly from the first he hoped to escape either to ^
the English or Eussian Legation. At times he sobbed ^'
piteously and shook the hands of the foreigners, who made
no attempt to conceal the sympathy they felt for the
always courteous and kindly sovereign.
Entertainments among the foreigners ceased. The
dismay was too profound and the mourning too real to
permit even of the mild gaieties of a Seoul winter.
Every foreign lady, and specially Mrs. Underwood, Her -
Majesty's medical attendant, and Mme. Waeber, who
had been an intimate friend, felt her death as a personal
:>ja^iL i3iUmr of i^obii&]?^ m sr o B T obap.
. GBMiihL oaattntpniQumwHfr in poIiiaGS was for-
jauB: oL ai» oomr t^jusiioi bj tbet stony of her end. Yet
iiam iitttL .^r iuuM^ axBtt difaarwiwdft people cfamg to the
^lOftt oaiift siitt Jsiu. eaci^Mii a& on a iaaamat mygimaii, and
wMbUL .uiiui|$^ Aittuug. Sjotmm^ opuuDn wih greatly con-
;^mmMi. vc :iMn» wtiM innumemhlB aExeate^ and no one
;3i« '^^UMO. Ji2»^ ;:ui'n might couud, buti it waa bdiaTed that
JMK ^^iife^ «ujL e«u:iMb6 deaiie to lib^cafie the Sin^ A
t«Aai«hMc -i '.orvigu wacships^ lay aii Chemolpo, and tibe
'%«ittt»a» l\Xta)tfeUiu» ^ud Ameikau T^Rgnaona were gjoazded
N^Mki^v u luoiiih aXCer die asswi^iiiitaon of the Qoeen,
»4L^ >%aJL\^ ail hope ot htu' ot»i2ape had been abandoned, the
.vav;.iuv;ii .u' uuug;s> \va^ so c^^erioiu^ under the rule of the
m'v> ^*ui>iu«;i> oiiai au aiteiupt waii^ made by the Foreign
s^ic<^vuiauvc;;> lo itu'iuiutikoe it by urging on Count Inouye
^iiim^iu ih^ Lvim^-vtuurCOfi^ and ocei^y the Palace with
-:i^\utv\sv' uoopc^ uuiil ihe loyaL aoidiflra had been drilled
\\HiK> ui cihcnouc^ ou which cbe King mi^t rely for his
lyic^v^iv^^ suioc^. It will bit :5^en firom this proposal how
w'lu^'l.oivxlj' ihu Jap«uM($^ Government was exonerated
iu^u hl^mc b) iho dipIouMUti agents of the Great Powers.
1 iw^ pavpoci4jJ w«u^ uo( nM.viY^ with cordial alacrity by
^ uuia luouvv\ who t)il^ thac the step of an armed reoccu-
^sm^u^ o( iho hUas,'v' by the Japanese, though with the
v>Uju\'i oi .^ivcuiut^ Uh> Kiugs safety, would be liable to
.vuivnui luuivviui^AUvUotu, and might bring about very grave
• ^atipiiv^uoua^ SiK'h au idea was only to be entertained
1 1 U|\ui i\H.-viN%>d a di(!ttiuct mandate firom the Powers.
I h.i icli>i;ia^h \\aA a^i u> work, a due amount of consent to
I Up vi i«%ii^\>Auvu4& w«^ obluiued, and when I left Seoul on a
xxm JAPAN DECLINED TO INTERVENE 75
northern journey on November 7th, it was in the fall
belief that on reaching Phyong-yang I should find a
telegram announcing that this serious aofwp iHtaJt had been
successfully accomplished in the presence of the Foreign
Eepresentatives. Japan, however, did not undertake the
task, though urge^ to do so both by Count Inouye and Mr.
Komura, the new Eepresentative, and the Kun-rt^-tai
remained in power, and the King a prisoner. Had the
recommendation of the Foreign Eepresentatives, among
whom the Bussian Eepresentative was the most emphatic
in urging the interference of Japan, been adopted, it is
more than probable that the recent predominance of
Eussian influence in Korea would have been avoided. It
is only fair to the Eussian Government to state that it gave
a distinct mandate to the Japanese to disarm the Kun-
ren-tai and take charge of the King. The Japanese
Grovemment declined, and therefore is alone responsible . ^ /
for Eussia's subsequent intervention.
During November the dissatisfaction throughout Korea
with the measures which were taken and proposed increased,
and the position became so strained, owing to the
demand of the Foreign Eepresentatives and of all classes
of Koreans that the occurrences of the 8th of October
must be investigated, and that the fiction of the Queen
being in hiding should be abandoned, that the Cabinet
unwillingly recognised that something must be done.
So on 26th November the Foreign Eepresentatives were
invited by the King to the Palace, and the Prime Minister,
in presence of His Majesty, who was profoundly agitated,
produced a decree bearing the King's signature, dismissing
the special nominees of the mutineers, the Ministers of
.f
».,
76 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY chap.
War and Police, declaring that the so-called Edict degrad-
ing the Queen was set aside and treated as void from the
— beginning, and that she was reinstated in her former
honours ; that the occurrences of the 8th October were to
be investigated by the Department of Justice, and that
the guilty persons were to be tried and punished. The
death of Her Majesty was announced at the same
time.
At the conclusion of this audience, Mr. Sill, the United
States Minister, expressed to the King " his profound satis-
faction with the announcement.*' Mr. Hillier followed
by " congratulating His Majesty on these satisfactory steps,
and hoped it would be the beginning of a time of peace
and tranquillity, and relieve His Majesty from much
anxiety." These good wishes were cordially endorsed by
his colleagues.
The measures proposed by the King to reassert his lost
authority and punish the conspirators promised very weU,
"^ -J3ut were rendered abortive by a " loyal plot," which was
formed by the Old Palace Guard and a number of Koreans,
some of them by no means insignificant men. It had for its
object the liberation of the sovereign and the substitution
of loyal troops for the Kun-ren-tai, Though it ended in
a fiasco two nights after this hopeful interview, its execu-
tion having been frustrated by premature disclosures, its
results were disastrous, for it involved a number of pro-
minent men, created grave suspicions, raised up a feeling
of antagonism to foreigners, some of whom (American
missionaries) were believed to be cognisant of the plot, if
not actually accessories, and brought about a general con-
— fusion, from which, when 1 left Korea five weeks later, there
XXIII THE SITUATION GREW WORSE 77
was no prospect of escape. The King was a closer prisoner
than ever; those surrounding him grew familiar and
insolent ; he lived in dread of assassination ; and he had
no more intercourse with foreigners, except with those
who had an official right to enter the Palace, which they
became increasingly unwilling to exercise.
It was with much regret that I left Seoul for a journey
in the interior at this most exciting time, when every day
brought fresh events and rumours, and a cowp d'itat of
great importance was believed to be impending ; but I had
very little time at my disposal before proceeding to Western
China on a long-planned journey.
CHAPTER XXIV
MR. YI HAE IN — KOREAN BURIAL CUSTOMS
After the interpreter difficulty had appeared as before insur-
mountable, I was provided with one who acquitted himself
to perfection, and through whose good offices I came much
nearer to the people than if I had been accompanied by a
foreigner. He spoke English remarkably well, was always
bright, courteous, intelligent, and good-natured ; he had a
keen sense of the ludicrous, and I owe much of the
pleasure, as well as the interest, of my journey to his
companionship. Mr. Hillier equipped me with Im, a
soldier of the Legation Guard, as my servant. He had
attended me on photographing expeditions on a former
visit, and on the journey I found him capable, faithful,
quick, and full of " go," — so valuable and efficient, indeed,
as to take the shine out of any subsequent attendant.
With these, a passport, and a kwan-ja or letter from the
Korean Foreign Office commending me to official help
(never used), my journey was made under the best possible
auspices.
The day before I left was spent in making acquaintance
with Mr. Yi Hak In, receiving farewell visits from many
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CHAP. XXIV THE AUTHOR'S OUTFIT 79
kind and helpful friends, looking over the backs and tackle
of the ponies I had engaged for the journey, and in arrang-
ing a photographic outfit. Im was taught to make curry,
an accomplishment in which he soon excelled, and I had
no other cooking done on the journey. For the benefit of
future travellers I will mention that my equipment con-
sisted of a camp-bed and bedding, candles, a large, strong,
doubly-oiled sheet, a folding chair, a kettle, two pots, a
cup and two plates of enamelled iron, some tea which
turned out musty, some flour, curry powder, and a tin of
Edward's '' desiccated soup,'' which came back unopened !
To the oft-repeated question, "Did you eat Korean food ?"
I reply. Certainly — ^pheasants, fowls, potatoes, and eggs.
Warm winter clothing, a Japanese kurvmaya's hat (the
best of all travelling hats), and Korean string shoes
completed my outfit, and I never needed anything I had
not got !
The start on 7th November was managed in good time,
without any of the usual delays, and I may say at once
that the majpUy the bugbear and torment of travellers
usually, never gave the slightest trouble. Though engaged
by the day, they were ready to make long day's journeys,
were always willing and helpful, and a month later
we parted excellent friends. As this is my second
&yourable experience, I am inclined to think that
Korean mapu are a maligned class. For each pony
and man, the food of both being included, I paid $1,
about 2s., per day when travelling, and half that sum
when halting. Mr. Yi had two ponies, I two baggs^e
animals, on one of which Im rode, and a saddle pony, ix,
a pack pony equipped with my side-saddle for the occasion.
80 KOREAN BURIAL CUSTOMS chap.
Starting from the English Legation and the Customs
buildings, we left the city by the West Gate, and passing
the stone stumps which up till lately supported the carved
and coloured roof under which generations of Korean kings
after their accession met the Chinese envoys who came in
great state to invest them with Korean sovereignty, and
through the narrow and rugged defile known as the Peking
Pass, we left the unique capital and its lofty clambering
wall out of sight. The day was splendid even for a Korean
autumn, and the frightful black pinnacles, serrated ridges,
and fleiming corrugations of Puk Han on the right of the
road were atmospherically idealised into perfect beauty.
For several miles the road was thronged with bulls loaded
with faggots, rice, and pine brush, for the supply of the
daily necessities of the city; then, except when passing
through the villages, it became solitary enough, except for
an occasional group of long-sworded Japanese travellers,
or baggage ponies in charge of Japanese soldiers.
The road as far as Pa Ju lies through pretty country,
small valleys either terraced for rice, which was lying out
to dry on the dykes, or growing barley, wheat, millet, and
cotton, surrounded by low but shapely hills, denuded of
everything but oak and pine scrub, but with folds in which
the Pinus sinensis grew in dark clumps, lighted up by the
vanishing scarlet of the maple and the glowing crimson of
the Ampelopsis Veitchii.
On the lower slopes, and usuaUy in close proximity to
the timber, are numerous villages, their groups of deep-
eaved, brown-thatched roofs, on which scarlet capsicums
were laid out to dry, looking pretty enough as adjuncts to
landscapes which on the whole lack life and emphasis.
XXIV A BONE OF CONTENTION 81
The villages through which the road passes were seen at
their best, for the roadway, serving for the village threshing-
tloor^ was daily swept for the threshing of rice and millet,
the passage of travellers being a secondary consideration ;
everything was dry, and the white clothes of the people
were consequently at their cleanliest.
At noon we reached Ko-yang, a poor place of 300
hovels, with ruinous official buildings of some size, once
handsome. At this, and every other magistracy up to
Phyong-yang, from 20 to 30 Japanese soldiers were
quartered in the yamens. The people hated them with a
hatred which is the legacy of three centuries, but could
not allege anything against them, admitting that they paid
for all they got, molested no one, and were seldom seen
outside the yamen gates. There the mapu halted for two
hours to give their ponies and themselves a feed. This
mid-day halt is one bone of contention between travellers
and themselves. No amount of hunting and worrying
them shortens the halt by more than ten minutes, and I
preferred peace of spirit, only insisting that when the
road admitted of it, as it frequently did, they should
travel 12 /{, or about three and three-quarter miles, an
hour. At Ko-yang I began the custom of giving the land-
lord of the inn at which I halted 100 cash for the room in
which I rested, which gave great satisfaction. I had my
mattress laid upon the hot floor, and as Im, by instinct,
secured privacy for me by fastening up mats and curtains
over the paper walls and doors, these mid-day halts were
very pleasant. Almost every house in these roadside
villages and small towns has a low table of such food as
Koreans love laid out under the eaves.
VOL. II G
84 KOREAN BURIAL CUSTOMS chap.
notice. When a man or woman falls ill, the mu-tang or
sorceress is called in to exorcise the spirit which has
caused the illness. When this fails and death becomes
imminent, in the case of a man no women are allowed to
remain in the room but his nearest female relations, and
in that of a woman all men must withdraw except her
husband, father, and brother. After death, the body,
specially at the joints, is shampooed, and when it has been
made flexible it is covered with a clean sheet and laid for
three days on a board, on which seven stars are painted.
This board is eventually burned at the grave. The " Star
Board," as it is called, is a euphemism for death, and is
spoken of as we speak of " the grave." During these days
the grave-clothes, which are of good materials in red, blue,
and yellow colouring, are prepared. Korean custom
enjoins that burial shall be delayed in the case of a poor
man three days only, in that of a middle-class man nine
days, of a nobleman or high ofl&cial three months, and in
that of one of the Eoyal Family nine months, but this
period may be abridged or extended at the pleasure of the
King.
Man is supposed to have three souls. After death one
occupies the tablet, one the grave, and one the Unknown.
During the passing of the spirit there is complete silence.
The under garments of the dead are taken out by a servant,
who waves them in the air and calls him by name, the
relations and Mends meantime wailing loudly. After a
time the clothes are thrown upon the roof. When the
corpse has been temporarily dressed, it is bound so tightly
round the chest as sometimes to break the shoulder blades,
which is interpreted as a sign of good luck. After these
XXIV THE TEN JUDGES 85
last offices a table is placed outside the door, on which are
three bowls of rice and a squash. Beside it are three pair
of straw sandals. The rice and sandals are for the three
sajaSf or official servants, who come to conduct one of the
souls to the "Ten Judges." The squash is broken, the
shoes burned, and the rice thrown away within half an
hour after death. Pictures of the Siptai-wong or "Ten
Judges " are to be seen in Buddhist temples in Korea. On
a man's death one of his souls is seized by their servants
and carried to the Unknown, where these Judges, who
through their spies are kept well informed as to human
deeds, sentence it accordingly, either to " a good place " or
to one of the manifold hells. The influence of Buddhism
doubtless maintains the observance of this singular custom,
even where the idea of its significance is lost or discredited.
The coffin is oblong. Where interment is delayed, it is
hermetically sealed with several coats of lacquer. Until
the funeral there is wailing daily in the dead man*s house
at the three hours of meals. Next the geomancer is con-
sulted about the site for the grave, and receives a fee
heavy in proportion to the means of the family. He is
believed from long study to have become acquainted with
all the good and bad influences which are said to reside in
the ground. A fortunate site brings rank, wealth, and
many sons to the sons and grandsons of the deceased, and
should be, if possible, on the southerly slope of a hill. He
also chooses an auspicious day for the burial.
In the case of a rich man, the grave with a stone altar
in front of it is prepared beforehand, in that of a poor man
not till the procession arrives. The coffin is placed in a
gaily-decorated hearse, and with wailing, music, singing,
86 KOREAN BURIAL CUSTOMS chap.
wine, food, and if in the evening, with many coloured
lanterns, the cortdge proceeds to the grave. A widow may
accompany her husband's corpse in a closed chair, though
this appears unusual, but the mourners are all men in
immense hats, which conceal , their faces, and sackcloth
clothing.
After the burial and the making of the circular mound
over the cofl&n, a libation of wine is poured out and the
company proceeds to sacrifice and to feast. Offerings of
wine and dried fish are placed on the stone altar in front
of the grave if it has been erected, or on small tables.
The relatives, facing these and the grave, make five pros-
trations, and a formula wishing peace to the spirit which
is to dwell there is repeated. Behind the grave similar
offerings and prostrations are made to the mountain spirit,
who presides over it, and who is the host of the soul com-
mitted to his care. The wine is thrown away, and the fish
bestowed upon the servants. It will be observed that no
priest has any part in the ceremonies connected with
death and burial, and that two souls have now been
disposed of — one to the judgment of the Unknown, and
the other to the keeping of the mountain spirit.
A chair is invariably carried in a funeral procession
containing the memorial, or, as we say, the "ancestral
tablet " of the deceased, a strip of white wood, bearing the
family name, set in a socket. A part of the inscription on
this is written at the house, and it is completed at the
grave. It is carried back with exactly the same style and
attendance that the dead man would have had had he
been living, for the third soul is supposed to return to the
house with the mourners, and to take up its abode in the
Kiv THE CLOSING DRAMA 87
tablet, which is placed in a vacant room and raised on a
black lacquer chair with a black lacquer table before it, on
which renewed offerings are made of bread, wine, cooked
meat, and vermicelli soup, the spirit being supposed to
regale itself with their odours. The mourners again
prostrate themselves five times, after which they eat the
offerings in an adjoining room. It is customary for friends
to strew the route of the procession with paper money.
In the period between the death and the interment
silence is observed in the house of mourning, and only
those visitors are received who come to condole with the
family and speak of the virtues of the departed. It is
believed that conversation on any ordinary topic will
cause the corpse to shake in the coffin and show other
symptoms of unrest. For the same reason the servants
are very particular in watching the cats of the household
if there are any, but cats are not in favour in Korea.
It is terribly unlucky for a cat to jump over a corpse. It
may even cause it to stand upright. After the deceased
has been carried out of the house, two or three mu-tang or
sorceresses enter it with musical instruments and the
other paraphernalia of their profession. After a time one
becomes "inspired" by the spirit of fche dead man, and
accurately impersonates him, even to his small tricks of
manner, movement, and speech. She gives a narrative of
his life in the first person singular, if he were a bad
man confessing his misdeeds, which may have been un-
suspected by his neighbours, and if he were a good
man, narrating his virtues with becoming modesty. At
the end she bows, takes a solemn farewell of those present,
and retires.
88 KOREAN BURIAL CUSTOMS chap.
After the tablet has been removed to the ancestral
temple, and the period of mourning is over, ineals are
offered in the shrine once every month, and also on the
anniversary of each death, all the descendants assembling,
and these observances extend backwards to the ancestprs
of five generations. Thus it is a very costly thing to have
many near relations and a number of ancestors, the
expense falling on the eldest son and his heirs. A Korean
gentleman told me that his nephew, upon whom this
duty falls, spends more upon it than upon his household
expenses.
It is not till the three years' mourning for a father has
expired that his tablet is removed to the ancestral temple
which rich men have near their houses. During the period
of mourning it is kept in a vacant room, usually in the
women's apartments. A poor man puts it in a box on one
side of his room, and when he worships his other ancestors,
strips of paper with their names upon them are pasted on
the mud wall I have slept in rooms in which the tablet
lay smothered in dust on one of the cross-beams. Common
people only worship for their ancestors of three generations.
The anniversary of a father's death is kept with much
ceremony for three years. On the previous night sacrifice
is offered before the tablet, and on the following day
the friends pay visits of condolence to the family, and
eat varieties of food. During the day they visit the
grave and offer sacrifices to the soul and the mountain
spirit.
A widow wears mourning all her life. If she has no
son she acts the part of a son in performing the ancestral
rites for her husband. It has not been correct for widows
XXIV THE KOREAN WIDOW 89
to remaiTy. If, howevei', a widow inherits property she
occasionally marries to rid herself of importunities, in
which case she is usually robbed and deserted.
The custom of tolerating the remarriage of widows
has, however, lately been changed into the right of
remarriage.
CHAPTEK XXV
FROM PA JU TO SONG-DO
It grew dark before we reached Pa Ju, and the mapu
were in great terror of tigers and robbers. It is unpleasant
to reach a Korean inn after nightfall, for there are no lights
by which to unload the baggage, and noise and confusion
prevail.
When the traveller arrives a man rushes in with a
brush, stirs up the dust and vermin, and sometimes puts
down a coarse mat. Experience has taught me that an
oiled sheet is a better protection against vermin than a
pony -load of insect powder. I made much use of the
tripod of my camera. It served as a candle -stand, a
barometer -suspender, and an arrangement on which to
hang my clothes at night out of harm's way. In two
hours after arrival my food was ready, after which Mr.
Yi came in to talk over the day, to plan the morrow, to
enlighten me on Korean customs, and to interpret my
orders to the faithful Ini, and by 8.30 I was asleep !
After leaving Pa Ju the country is extremely pretty,
and one of the most picturesque views in Korea is from
the height overlooking the romantically-situated village of
CHAP. XXV KOREAN BRIDGES 91
Im-jin, clustering along both sides of a ravine, which
terminates on the broad Im-jin Gang, a tributary of the
Han, in two steep rocky bluffs, sprinkled with the Piwus
sinensis, the two being connected by a fine, double-roofed
granite Chinese gateway, inscribed " Gate for the tranquil-
lisation of the West." The road passing down the village
street reaches the water's edge through this relic, one of
three or four similar barriers on this high-road to China.
The Im-jin Gang, there 343 yards broad, has shallow water
and a flat sandy shore on its north side, but a range of
high bluffs, crowned with extensive old defensive works,
lines the south side, the gateway being the only break for
many miles. Below these the river is a deep green stream,
navigable for craft of 14 tons for 40 miles from its mouth.
There was a still, faintly blue atmosphere, and the sails of
boats passing dreamily into the mountains over the silver
water had a most artistic eflect.
There are two Chinese bridges on that road, curved
slabs of stone, supported on four-sided blocks of granite,
giving one a feeling of security, even though they have
no parapets. Korean bridges are poles laid over a river,
with matting or brushwood covered with earth upon them,
and are usually full of holes. These precarious structures
had just been replaced after the summer rains. A majpu
usually goes ahead to test their solidity. The region is
extremely fertile, producing fine crops of rice, wheat,
barley, millet, buckwheat, cotton, sesamum, castor oil,
beans, maize, tobacco, capsicums, e^ plant, peas, etc. But
Russian and American kerosene is fast displacing the
vegetable oils for burning, and is producing the same
revolution in village evening life which it has effected in the
92 FROM PA JU TO SONG-DO chap.
Western Islands of Scotland I never saw a Korean
hamlet south of Phyong-yang, however far from the main
road, into which kerosene had not penetrated.
I was obliged to halt for the night when only 10 li
from Song-do, all the more regretfully, because the people
were unwilling to receive a foreigner, and the family
room which I occupied, only 8 feet 6 inches by 6 feet, was
heated up to 85°, was poisoned with the smell of cakes of
rotting beans, and was so alive with vermin of every
description that I was obliged to suspend a curtain over
my bed to prevent them from falling upon it.
The next morning, in an atmosphere which idealised
everything, we reached Song-do, or Kai-song, now the
second city in the kingdom, once the capital of Hon-jo, one
of the three kingdoms which united to form Korea, and
the capital of Korea five centuries ago. A city of 60,000
people, Ij^ng to the south of Sang-dan San, with a wall
ten miles in circumference running irregularly over
heights, and pierced by double-roofed gateways, with a
peaked and splintered ridge extending from Sang-dan San
to the north-east, its higher summits attaining altitudes
of from 2000 to 3000 feet, it has a striking re|emblance to
Seoul.
The great gate is approached by an avenue of trees,
and the road is lined with seun-tjeung-jn, monuments to
good governors and magistrates, faithful widows, and pious
sons. A wide street, its apparent width narrowed by two
rows of thatched booths, divides the city. It was a scene
of bustle, activity, and petty trade, something like a fair.
The women wear white sheets gathered round their heads
and nearly reaching their feet. The street was thronged
XXV LOWLY QUARTERS 93
with men in huge hats and very white clothing, with boy
bridegrooms in pink garments and the quaint yellow hats
which custom enjoins for several months after marriage,
and with mourners dressed in sackcloth from head to foot,
the head and shoulders concealed by peaked and scalloped
hats, the identity being further disguised by two-handled
sackcloth screens, held up to their eyes. In thatched
stalls on low stands and on mats on the ground were all
Korean necessaries and luxuries, among which were large
quantities of English piece goods, and hacked pieces of
beef with the blood in it, Korean killed meat being enough
to make any one a vegetarian. Goats are killed by pulling
them to and fro in a narrow stream, which method is said to
destroy the rank taste of the flesh ; dogs by twirling them
in a noose until they are unconscious, after which they
are bled. I have already inflicted on my readers an
account of the fate of a bullock at Korean hands. It was
a busy, dirty, poor, mean scene under the hot sun.
The Song-do inns are bad, and a friend of Mr. Yi
kindly lent me a house, partly in ruins, but with two
rooms which sheltered Tm and myself, and in this I spent
two pleasant days in lovely weather, Mr. Yi, who was
visiting friends, escorting me to the Song-do sights, which
may be seen in one morning, and to pay visits in some of
the better -class houses. My quarters, though by com-
parison very comfortable, would not at home be considered
fit for the housing of a better-class cow ! But Korea has
a heavenly climate for much of the year. The squalor,
dust, and rubbish in my compound and everywhere were
inconceivable, though the city is rather a " well-to-do " one.
The water-supply is atrocious, ofial and refuse of all kinds
94 FROM PA JU TO SONG-DO chap,
lying up to the mouths of the wells. It says something
for the security of Korea that a foreign lady oould safely
live in a dwelling up a lonely alley in the heart of a big
city, with no attendant but a Korean soldier knowing not
a word of English, who, had he been so minded, might
have cut my throat and decamped with my money, of
which he knew the whereabouts, neither my door nor the
compound having any fastening !
Points of interest in a Korean city are few, and the
ancient capital is no exception to the rule. There is a fine
bronze bell with curiously involved dragons in one of the
gate towers, cast five centuries ago, an archery ground
with official pavilions on a height with a superb view, the
Govemor*s yamen, once handsome, now ruinous, with
Japanese sentries, a dismal temple to Confucius, and a
showy one to the God of War. Outside the crowd and
bustle of the city, reached by a narrow path among
prosperous ginseng farms and persimmon -embowered
hamlets, are the lonely remains of the palace of the Kings
who reigned in Korea prior to the dynasty of which the
present sovereign is the representative, and even in their
forlornness they give the impression that the Korean
Kings were much statelier monarchs then than now.
The remains consist of an approach to the main plat-
form on which the palace stood, by two subsidiary platforms,
the first reached by a nearly obliterated set of steps.
Four staircases 15 feet wide, of thirty steps each, lead to
a lofty artificial platform, 14 feet high, faced with hewn
stone in great blocks, and by rough measurement 846 feet
in length. On the east side there are massive abutments.
On the west the platform broadens irregularly. At the
XXV PANAX GINSENG 95
entrance, 80 feet wide, at the top of the steps, there are
the bases of columns suggestive of a very stately Approach.
The palace platform is intersected by massive stone founda-
tions of halls and rooms, some of large area. It is backed
by a pine -clothed knoll, and is prettily situated in an
amphitheatre of hills.
Song-do as a royal city, and as one of the so-called
fortresses for the protection of the capital, still retains
many ancient privileges. It is a bustling business town,
and a great centre of the grain trade. It has various
mercantile guilds with their places of business, small shops
built round compounds with entrance gates. It makes
wooden shoes, coarse pottery and fine matting, and imports
paper, which it manufactures with sesamum oil into the
oil paper for which Korea is famous, and which is made into
cloaks, umbrellas, tobacco-pouches, and sheets for walls
and floors. In answer to many inquiries, I learned that
trade had improved considerably since the war, but the
native traders now have to compete with fourteen Japanese
shops, and to suflFer the presence of forty Japanese residents.
I have left until the last the commodity for which
Song-do is famous, and which is the chief source of its
prosperity — ginseng. Panax Ginseng is, as its name im-
ports, a " panacea." No one can be in the Far East for
many days without hearing of this root and its virtues.
No drug in the British Pharmacopoeia rivals with us the
estimation in which this is held by the Chinese. It is a
tonic, a febrifuge, a stomachic, the very elixir of life, taken
spasmodically or regularly in Chinese wine by most Chinese
who can afford it. It is one of the most valuable articles
which Korea exports, and one great source of its revenue.
96 FROM PA JU TO SONG-DO chap.
In the steamer in which I left Chemulpo there was a
consignment of it worth $140,000. But, valuable as
the cultivated root is, it is nothing to the value of the
wild, which grows in Northern Korea, a single specimen of
which has been sold for £40 ! It is chiefly found in the
Kang-ge Mountains; but it is rare, and the search so
often ends in failure, that the common people credit it
with magical properties, and believe that only men of pure
lives can find it.
The ginseng season was at its height. People talked,
thought, and dreamed ginseng, for the risks of its six or
seven years' growth were over, and the root was actually
in the factory. I went to several ginseng farms, and also
saw the difiPerent stages of the manufsiCturing process, and
received the same impression as in Siberia, that if industry
were lucrative, and the Korean were sure of his earnings,
he would be an industrious and even a thrifty person.
All round Song-do are carefully-fenced farms on which
ginseng is grown with great care and exquisite neatness on
beds 18 inches wide, 2 feet high, and neatly bordered with
slates. It is sown in April, transplanted in the following
spring, and again in three years into specially-prepared
ground, not recently cultivated, and which has not been
used for ginseng-culture for seven years. Up to the second
year the plant has only two leaves. In the fourth year it
is six inches high, with four leaves standing out at right
angles from the stalk. It reaches maturity in the sixth or
seventh year. During its growth it is sheltered from both
wind and sun by well-made reed roofs with blinds, which
are raised or lowered as may be required. When the root
is taken up it is known as " white ginseng," and is bought
XXV A GINSENG FACTOEY 97
hj meichants, who get it " maniifactaied/' about 3^ catties
of the fresh root making one eaUie of red" or commercial
ginseng. The grower pays a tax of 20 cents per eaUie,
and the merchant 16 dollars a caitie for the root as received
from the manufacturer.
The annual time of manufacture depends on orders
given bj the Gk)vemment. The growers and merchants
make the most profit when the date is earlj. Only two
manufacturers are licensed, and one hundred and fifty
growera The quantity to be manufactured is also limited.
In 1895 it was 15,000 catties of red ginseng and 3000 of
" beards." The terms " beards " and " tails " are used to
denote different parts of the root, which eventually has a
grotesque resemblance to a headless man ! It is possible
that this likeness is the source of some of the almost
miraculous virtues which are attributed to it Everything
about the factories is scrupulously clean, and would do
credit to European management. The row of houses used
by what we should call the excisemen are well built and
comfortable. There are two officials sent from Seoul by
the Agricultural Department for the " season," with four
policemen and two attendants, whose expenses are paid
by the manufacturers, and each step of the manufacture
and the egress of the workmen are careMly watched.
Mr. Yi was sent by the Customs to make special inquiries
in connection with the revenue derived.
Ginsengis steamed for twenty-four hours in laige earthen
jars over iron pots built into furnaces, and is then par-
tially dried in a room kept at a high temperature by
charcoal The final drying is effected by exposing the roots
in elevated flat baskets to the rays of the bright winter sun.
VOL. II H
98 FROM PA JU- TO SONG-DO chap.
The human resemblance survives these processes, but
afterwards the " beards " and " tails/' used chiefly in Korea,
are cut ofif, and the trunk, from 3 to 4 inches long,
looks like a piece of clouded amber. These trunks are
carefully picked over, and being classified according to
size, are neatly packed in small oblong baskets containing
about five catties each, twelve or fourteen of these being
packed in a basket, which is waterproofed and matted, and
stamped and sealed by the Agricultural Department as
ready for exportation. A basket, according to quality, is
worth from $14,000 to $20,000! In a good season
the grower makes about fifteen times his outlay.
Ginseng was a Eoyal monopoly, but times have changed.
This medicine, which has such a high and apparently
partially deserved reputation throughout the Far East,
does not suit Europeans, and is of littl6 account with
European doctors.
A Post Ofl&ce had been established in Song-do under
Korean management, and I not only received but sent a
letter, which reached its destination safely ! Buddhism still
prevails to some extent in this city, and large sums are
expended upon the services of sorcerers. In Song-do I saw,
what very rarely may be seen in Seoul and elsewhere, a
" Eed Door." These are a very high honour reserved for
rare instances of faithfulness in widows, loyalty in
subjects, and piety in sons. When a widow (almost in-
variably of the upper class) weeps ceaselessly for her
husband, maintains the deepest seclusion, attends loyally
to her father- and mother-in-law, and spends her time in
pious deeds, the people of the neighbourhood, proud of her
virtues, represent them to the Governor of the province,
XXV THE "RED DOOR" 99
who conveys their recommendation to the King, with
whom it rests to confer the " Eed Door." The distinction
is also given to the family of an eminently loyal subject,
who has given his life for the King's life.
The case of a son whose father has reached a great
age is somewhat different, and the honour is more emphatic
still. His filial virtue is shown by such methods as
these. He goes every morning to his father's apartments,
asks him how his health is, how he has slept, what he
has eaten for breakfast, and how he enjoyed the meal — if
he has any fancies for dinner, and if he shall go to the
market and buy him some tai (the best fish in Korea), and
if he shall come back and assist him to take a walk ?
The reader will observe how extremely material the pious
son's inquiries are. Such assiduity continued during a
course of years, on being represented to the King, may
receive the coveted red portal In former days, these
matters used to be referred to the Suzerain, the Emperor
of China. In Song-do, as in the villages, a straw fringe is
frequently to be seen stretched across a door, either plain
or with bits of charcoal knotted into it. The former
denotes the birth of a girl, the latter that of a boy. A
girl is not specially welcome, nor is the occasion one of
festivity, but neither is it, as in some countries, regarded
as a calamity, although, if it be a firstborn, the friends of
the father are apt to write letters of condolence to him,
with the consoling suggestion that " the next will be a
boy."
CHAPTER XXVI
FROM SONG-DO TO PHYONG-YANG
Glorious weather favoured my departure from the ancient
Korean capital. The day's journey lay through pretty
country, small valleys, and picturesquely-shaped hills, on
which the vegetation, whatever it was,had turned to a purple
as rich as the English heather blossom, while the blue
gloom of the pines emphasised the flaming reds of the
dying leafage. The villages were few and small, and culti-
vation was altogether confined to the valleys. Pheasants
were so abundant that the mapu pelted them out of
the cover by the roadside, and wild ducks abounded on
every stream. The one really fine view of the day is from
the crest of a hill just beyond 0-hung-suk Ju, where there
is a second defensive gate, with a ruinous wall carried along
a ridge for some distance on either side. The masonry
and the gate-house are fine, and the view down the wild
valley beyond with its rich autumn colouring was almost
grand. It was evident that officials were expected, for
the road was being repaired everywhere — that is, spadefuls
of soft soil were being taken from the banks and road-
sides, and were being thrown into the ruts and holes to
CHAP. XXVI TEBRIBLE WEATHEB 101
deepen the quagmire which the next rain would produce.
From four to seven men were working at each spade ! A
great part of the male population had turned out ; for when
an official of rank is to travel, every family in the district
must provide one male member or a substitute to put the
road in order. The repairs of the roads and bridges
devolve entirely on the country people.
The following day brought a change of weather. My
room had no hot floor and the mercury at daybreak was
only 20** ! When we started, a strong north-wester was
blovTing, which increased to a gale by noon, the same fierce
gale in which at Chemulpo H.M.S. Edgar lost her boat
with forty-seven men. My pony and I would have been
blown over a wretched bridge had not four men linked
themselves together to support us; and later, on the
top of a precipice above a river, a gust came with such
force that the animals refused to face it, and one of them
was as nearly lost as possible. By noon it was impossible
to sit on our horses, and we fought the storm on foot. When
Im lifted me from my pony I fell down, and it took several
men shouting with laughter to set me on my feet again.
When Mr. Yi and I spoke to each other, our voices had
a bobbery clatter, and sentences broke ofif half-way in an
inane giggle. I felt as if there were hardly another
" shot in the locker,'' but if a traveller " says die," the men
lose all heart, so I summoned up all my pluck, took a
photograph after the noon halt, and walked on at a good
pace.
But the wind, with the mercury at 26**, was awful,
gripping the heart and benumbing the brain. I have not
felt anything like it since I encountered the " devil wind "
102 FROM SONG-BO TO PHYC)NG-YANG chap.
on the Zagros heights in Persia. At some distance from
our destination Mr. Yi, Im, and the mapu begged me to
halt, as they could no longer face it, though the accommo-
dation for man and beast at Tol Maru, where we put up,
was the worst imaginable, and the large village the filthiest,
most squalid, and most absolutely poverty-stricken place I
saw in that land of squalor. The horses were crowded
together, and their baffled attempts at fighting were only
less hideous than the shouts and yells of the mapu, who
were constantly being roused out of a sound sleep to
separate them.
My room was 8 feet by 6, and much occupied by the
chattels of the people, besides being alive with cockroaches
and other forms of horrid life. The dirt and discomfort
in which the peasant Koreans live are incredible.
An uninteresting tract of country succeeded, and some
time was occupied in threading long treeless valleys, cut
up by stony beds of streams, margined by sandy flats, in-
undated in summer, and then covered chiefly with withered
reeds, asters, and artemisia, a belated aster every now
and then displaying its untimely mauve blossom. All
these and the dry grasses and weeds of the hill-sides were
being cut and stacked for fuel, even brushwood having dis-
appeared. This work is done by small boys, who carry
their loads on wooden saddles suited to their size. That
region is very thinly peopled, only a few hamlets of
squalid hovels being scattered over it, and cultivation was
rare and untidy, except in one fine agricultural valley
where wheat and barley were springing. No animals,
except a breed of pigs not larger than English terriera,
were to be seen.
XXVI A BOMICILIARY VISIT 103
One of the most dismal and squalid " towns " on this
route is Shur-hung, a long rambling viUage of nearly 5000
souls, and a magistracy, built along the refuse -covered
bank of a bright, shallow stream. As if the Crown
official were the upas tree, the town with a yaraen is always
more forlorn than any other. In Shur-hung the large and
once handsome yamefti buildings are all but in ruins, and
so is the Confucian temple, visited periodically, as all such
temples are, by the magistrate, who bows before the tablet
of the « most holy teacher " and offers an animal in sacrifice.
The Korean official is the vampire which sucks the
life-blood of the people. We had crossed the Tao-jol, the
boundary between the provinces of Kyong-hwi and
Hwang-hai, and were then in the latter. Most officials
of any standing live in Seoul for pleasure and society,
leaving subordinates in charge, and as their tenure of
office is very brief, they regard the people within their
jurisdiction rather with reference to their squeezeableness
than to their capacity for improvement.
Forty Japanese soldiers found a dmughty shelter
within the tumble-down buildings of the yamen. As I
walked down the street one of them touched me on the
shoulder, asking my nationality, whence I came, and
whither I was going, not quite politely, I thought. When
I reached my room a dozen of them came and gradually
closed round my door, which I could not shut, standing
almost within it. A trim sergeant raised his cap to me,
and passing on to Mr. Yi's room, asked him where I came
from and whither I was going, and on hearing, replied, " All
right," raised his cap to me, and departed, withdrawing his
men with him. This was one of several domiciliary visits.
KRUM SONG-DO TO PHYONGYANG chap.
ift 'Obu^ii they were usually very politely made, they
^^^gobuad the <|uery as to the right to make them, and to
«KH«iit Che mastership in the land belonged. There, as
-ASbwhere, though the people hated the Japanese with an
aifenoe hatitxi, they were obliged to admit that they were
^ofy luiec and paid for everything they got K the
HiAOiers had not been in European clothes, it would not
itive occurred to me to think them rude for crowding
.'viiiKi my door.
A 'iay's lide through monotonous country brought us to
?oug-sau, where we halted in the dirtiest hole I had till then
3^eii in. As soon as my den was comfortably warm, myriads
)i house flies, blackening the rafters, renewed a semi-torpid
dJKisDence, dying in heaps in the soup and curry, filling
jbo well of the candlestick with their singed bodies, and
crawling in hundreds over my face. Next came the
oocki'oaches in legions, large and small, torpid and active,
followed by a great army of fleas and bugs, making life
insupportable. To judge from the significant sounds from
the public room, no one slept all night, and when I
asked Mr. Yi after his welfare the next morning, he
uttered the one word "miserable." Discomforts of this
uatui-e, less or more, are inseparable from the Korean
inn.
The following day. at a large village, we came upon
the weekly market. It is usual to inquire r^arding the
trade of a district, and as the result of my inquiries, I
assert that '' ti-ade ** in the onlinarv sense has no existence
in a great part of Central and Northern Korea, t>. there is
no exchange of commodities between one plac« and another,
no exports, no imports by resident merchants, and no
XXVI TRADE IN THE INTERIOR 105
industries supplying more than a local demand. Such are
to be found to some extent in Southern Korea, and speci-
ally in the province of Chul-la. Apart firom Phyong-yang,
"trade" does not exist in the region through which I
travelled.
Keasons for such a state of things existed in the
debased coinage, so bulky that a pony can only carry
£10 worth of it, the entire lack of such banking facilities
as even in Western China render business transactions
easy ; the general mutual distrust ; prejudices against pre-
paring hides and working leather; caste prejudices; the
general insecurity of earnings, ignorance absolutely incon-
ceivable, and the existence of numerous guilds which
possess practical monopolies.
Under Japanese influence, however, the superb silver
yen has made its way slowly into the interior, and instead
of having to carry a load of cashy as on my former journey,
or to be placed in great difficulties by the want of it, this
large silver coin was readily taken at all the inns, although
I did not see a single specimen of the new Korean
coinage.
" Trade," as I became acquainted with it, is represented
by Japanese buyers, who visit the small towns and
villages, buying up rice, grain, and beans, which they
forward to the ports for shipment to Japan, and by an
organised corporation of pusang or pedlars, one of the
most important of the many guilds which have been
among the curious features of Korea.
There are no shops in villages, and few, where there
are any, even in small towns. It is, in fact, impossible to
buy anything except on the market-day, as no one keeps
106 FROM SONG-DO TO PHY(JNG-YANG chap.
any stock of anything. At the weekly market the usual
melancholy dulness of a Korean village is exchanged for
bustle, colour, and crowds of men. From an early hour
in the morning the paths leading to the ofi&cially-appointed
centre are thronged with peasants bringing in their wares
for sale or barter, chiefly fowls in coops, pigs, straw shoes,
straw hats, and wooden spoons, while the main road has
its complement of merchants, i,e. pedlars, mostly fine,
strong, well-dressed men, either carrying their heavy
packs themselves or employing porters or bulls for the
purpose. These men travel on regular circuits to the
village centres, and are industrious and respectable. A
few put-up stalls, specially those who sell silks, gauzes,
cords for girdles, dress shoes, amber, buttons, silks in
skeins, small mirrors, tobacco-pouches, dress combs of
tortoise-shell for men's top-knots, tape girdles for trousers,
boxes with mirror tops, and the like. But most of the
articles, from which one learns a good deal about the
necessaries and luxuries required by the Korean, are
exposed for sale on low tables or on mats on the ground,
the merchant giving the occupant of the house before
which he camps a few cask for the accommodoetion.
On such tables are sticks of pulled candy as thick as
an arm, some of it stuffed with sesamum seeds, a sweet-
meat sold in enormous quantities, and piece goods, shirtings
of Japanese and English make, Victoria lawns, hempen
cloth, Turkey-red cottons, Korean flimsy silks, dyes, chiefly
aniline, which are sold in great quantities, together with
safifron, indigo, and Chinese Prussian blue. On these also
are exposed long pipes, contraband in the capital, and
Japanese cigarettes, coming into great favour with young
XXVI A KOREAN MARKET 107
men and boys, with leather courier bags and lucifer
matches from the same country, wooden combs, hairpins
with tinsel heads, and, such is the march of ideas, purses
for silver ! Paper, the best of the Korean manufactures,
in its finer qualities produced in Ghul-la Do, is honoured
by stallB. Every kind is purchasable in these markets,
£rom the beautiful, translucent, buff, oiled paper, nearly
equal to vellum in appearance and tenacity, used for the
floors of middle- and upper-class houses, and the stout
paper for covering walls, to the thin, strong film for
writing on, and a beautiful fabric, a sort of frothy gauze,
for wrapping up deUcate fabrics, as well as the coarse
fibrous material, used for covering heavy packages, and
intermediate grades, applied to every imaginable purpose,
such as the making of string, almost all manufactured
from the paper mulberry.
On mats on the ground are exposed straw mats, straw
and string shoes, flints for use with steel, black buckram
dress hats, coarse, narrow cotton cloth of Korean manufac-
ture, rope muzzles for horses (much needed), sweeping
whisks, wooden saiots, and straw, reed, and bamboo hats
in endless variety. On these also are rough iron goods,
family cooking-pots, horse-shoes, spade-shoes, door-rings,
nails, and carpenters' tools, when of native manufacture,
as rough as they can be; and Korean roots and fruits,
tasteless and untempting, great hard pears much like raw
parsnips, chestnuts, pea-nuts, persimmons which had been
soaked in water to take the acridity out of them, and
gilder. There were coops of fowls and piles of pheasants,
brought down by falcons, gorgeous birds, selling at six for a
yen (about 4d. each), and torn and hacked pieces of bull-beef.
108 FROM SONGHX) TO PHY5NG-YANG chap.
One prominent feature of that special market was the
native potterj, both coarse and brittle ware, chj, with a
pale green glaze rudely appUed, smaU jars and bowls
chiefly, and a coarser ware, nearly black and slightly
iridescent, closely resembling iron. This pottery is of
universal use among the poor for cooking-pots, water-jars,
mfiiae-jars, receptacles for grain and pulse, and pickle-jars
5 feet high, roomy enough to hold a man, two of which
are a bull's load. At that season these jars were in great
lequest, for the peasant world was occupied, the men in
digging up a great hard white radish weighing from 2 to
4 lbs., and the women in washing its great head of partially
blanched leaves, which, after being laid aside in these
jars in brine, form one great article of a Korean peasant's
winter diet
Umbrella hats, oiled paper, hat -covers, pounded
capsicums, rice, peas and beans, bean curd, and other
necessaries of Korean existence, were there, but business
was very dull, and the crowds of people were nearly as
quiet as the gentle bulls which stood hour after hour
among them. Late in the afternoon, the pedlars packed
up their wares and departed en route for the next centre,
and a good deal of hard drinking closed the day. I have
been thus minute in my description because the peripatetic
merchant really represents the fashion of Korean trade,
and the wares which are brought to market both the
necessaries and luxuries of Korean existence.
The reader will agree with me that, except for a
certain amount of insight into Korean customs which
can only be gained by mixing freely with Koreans, the
journey from Seoul to Phyong-yang tends to monotony.
XXVI « HILL TOWNS " 109
though at the time Mr. Yi's brightness, intelligence,
sense of fun, and unvarying good-nature made it very
pleasant. Among the few features of interest on the
road are the " Hill Towns," of which three are striking
objects, specially one on the hill opposite to the magistracy
of Pyeng-san, the hill -top being surrounded by a
battlemented wall two miles in circuit, enclosing a
tangled thicket containing a few hovels and the remains
of some granaries. Unwalled towns are supposed to
possess such strongholds, with stores of rice and soy^ as
refuges in times of invasion or rebellion, but as they have
not been required for three centuries, they are now ruin-
ous. The one on a high hill above Sai-nam, where the
last Chinese gate occurs, is imposing from its fine gate-
way and the extent of ground it encloses.
Two days before reaching Phyong-yang we crossed the
highest pass on the road, and by a glen wooded with such
deciduous trees, shrubs, and trailers as ash, ekeagnus,
euonymus, hornbeam, oak, lime, Acanthopanax ricinifolia,
actinidia with scarlet berries, clematis, Ampelopm Vdtchii,
etc., descended to the valley of the Nam Chhon, a broad
but shallow stream which joins the Tai-dong. On the right
bank, where the stream, crossed by a dilapidated bridge, is
128 yards wide, the town of Whang Ju is picturesquely
situated, 36 li from the sea, at the base of two low fir-
crowned hills, which terminate in cliffs above the Nam-
chhon.
A battlemented wall 9 K in circumference, with several
fine towers and gateways, encloses the town, and being
carried along the verge of the cliflf and over the downs
and ups of the hills, has a very striking appearance. It
110 FROM SONG-DO TO PHYONG-YANG chap.
was a singularly attractive view. The Korean sky was at
its bluest, and the winding Nam Chhon was seen in
glimpses here and there through the broad fertile plain in
reaches as blue, and the broken sparkle of its shallow
waters flashed in sapphire gleams against the gray rock
and the gray walls of the city. On the wall, and grouped
in the handsome Water Grate, were a number of Japanese
soldiers watching a crowd of Koreans spearing white
fish with three-pronged forks from rafts made of two
bundles of reeds with a cask lashed between them, and
from the bridge the ruinous state of the walls and towers
could not be seen.
Whang Ju is memorable to me as being the first place
I saw which had suffered from the ravages of recent war.
There the Japanese came upon the Chinese, but there was
no fighting at that point. Yet whatever happened has
been enough to reduce a flourishing town with an estimated
population of 30,000 souls to one of between 5000 and
6000, and to destroy whatever prosperity it had.
I passed through the Water Gkite into a deplorable
scene of desolation. There were heaps of ruins, some
blackened by fire, others where the houses had apparently
coUapsed " all of a heap," with posts and rafters sticking
out of it. There are large areas of nothing but this and
streets of deserted houses, sadder yet, with doors and
windows gone for the bivouac fires of the Japanese, and
streets where roofless mud walls alone were standing.
In some parts there were houses with windows gone and
torn paper waving from their walls, and then perhaps an
inhabited house stood solitary among the deserted or
destroyed, emphasising the desolation, Some of the
XXVI THE TRACK OF WAR 111
destruction was wrought by the Chinese, some by the
Japanese, and much resulted from the terrified flight of
more than 20,000 of the inhabitants.
North of Whang Ju are rich plains of productive, stone-
less, red alluvium, extending towards the Tai-dong for
nearly 40 miles. On these there were villages partly
burned and partly depopulated and ruinous, and tracts of
the superb soil had passed out of cultivation owing to the
flight of the cultivators, and there was a total absence of
beasts, the splendid bulls of the region having perished
under their loads en route for Manchuria.
It was a dreary journey that day through partially
destroyed villages, relapsing plains, and slopes denuded of
every stick which could be burned. There were no way-
farers on the roads, no movement of any kind, and as it
grew dusk the mapu were afraid of tigers and robbers,
and we halted for the night at the wretched hamlet of
Ko-moun Tari, where I obtained a room with delay and
difficulty, partly owing to the unwillingness of the people
to receive a foreigner. They had suflered enough from
foreigners, truly !
The concluding day's march was through a pleasant
country, though denuded of trees, and the approach to a
great city was denoted by the number of villages, daemon
shrines, and refreshment booths on the road, the increased
traflic, and eventually, by a long avenue of stone tablets,
some of them imder highly-decorated roofs, recording the
virtues of Phyong-yang officials for 250 years !
The first view of Phyong-yong delighted me. The city
has a magnificent situation, taken advantage of with much
skill, and at a distance merits the epithet " imposing." It
112 PROM SONG-DO TO PHYONQ-YANa chap.
was a glorious afternoon. All the low ranges which girdle
the rich plain through which the Tai-dong winds were blue
and violet, melting into a blue haze, the crystal waters
of the river were bluer still, brown-sailed boats drifted
lazily with the stream, and above it the gray mass of the
city rose into a dome of unclouded blue.
It is built on lofty ground rising abruptly from the
river, above which a fine wall climbs picturesquely over
irregular, but always ascending, altitudes, till it is lost
among the pines of a hill which overhangs the Tai-dong.
The great double-roofed Tai-dong Mon (river gate), decor-
ated pavilions on the walls, the massive curled roofs of
the Govemor^s yamwa, a large Buddhist monastery and
temple on a height, and a fine temple to the God of War,
prominent objects from a distance, prepare one for some-
thing quite apart from the ordinary meanness of a Korean
city.
Crossing the clear flashing waters of the Tai-dong with
our ponies in a crowded ferry-boat, we found ourselves in
the slush of the dark Water Gate, at all hours of the day
crowded with water-carriers. There are no wells in the
city, the reason assigned for the deficiency being that the
walls enclose a boat-shaped area, and that the digging of
wells would cause the boat to sink ! The water is carried
almost entirely in American kerosene tins. I lodged at
the house of a broker, and had nice clean rooms for myself
and Im, quite quiet, and with a separate access from the
street. It was truly a luxury to have roof, walls, and floor
papered with thick oiled paper much resembling varnished
oak, but there was no hot floor, and I had to rely for
warmth solely on the " fire-bowL"
XXVI A MISSION-HOUSE 113
Taking a most diverting boy as my guide, I went out-
side the city wall, through some farming country to a
Korean house in a very tumble-to-pieces compound, which
he insisted was the dwelling of the American missionaries ;
but I only found a Korean family, and there were no traces
of foreign occupation in glass panes let into the paper of
the windows and doors. Nothing daunted, the boy pulled
me through a smaller compound, opened a door, and
pushed me into what was manifestly posing as a foreign
room, gave me a chair, took one himself, and offered me a
cigarette I
I had reached the right place. It was a very rough
Korean room, about the length and width of a N.W.
Railway saloon carriage. It had three camp-beds, three
chairs, a trunk for a table, and a few books and writing
materials, as well as a few articles of male apparel
hanging on the mud walls. I waited more than an
hour, every attempt at depaxture being forcibly as well
as volubly resisted by the urchin, imagining the devotion
which could sustain educated men year after year in such
surroundings, and then they came in hilariously, and we
had a most pleasant evening. I shall say more of them
later. It was a weird walk through ruins which looked
ghostly in the starlight to my curious quarters in the
densest part of the city by the Water Gate, where at
intervals through the night I heard the beat of the sor-
cerer's drum and the shrieking chant of the mu-tang.
It may be taken for granted that every Korean winter
day is splendid, but the following day in Phyong-yang
was heavenly. Three Koreans called on me in the morning,
very courteous persons, but as Mr. Yi and I had parted com-
VOL. II I
114 FROM SONG-DO TO PHYONG-YANG chap.
pany for a time on reaching the city, the interpretation was
feeble, and we bowed and smiled, and smiled and bowed,
with tedious iteration, without coming to much mutual
understanding, and I was glad when the time came
for seeing the city and battlefield under Mr. Moflfett's
guidance.
On such an incomparable day everything looked at
its very best, but also at its very worst, for the brilliant
sunshine lit up desolations sickening to contemplate, —
a prosperous city of 60,000 inhabitants reduced to
decay and 15,000 — four-fifths of its houses destroyed,
streets and alleys choked with ruins, hill -slopes
and vales once thick with Korean crowded home-
steads, covered with gaunt hideous remains — frag-
ments of broken walls, kang floors, kang chimneys,
indefinite heaps in which roofs and walls lay in un-
picturesque confusion — and still worse, roofs and walls
standing, but doors and windows all gone, suggesting the
horror of human faces with their eyes put out. Every-
where there were the same scenes, miles of them, and very
much of the desolation was charred and blackened, shape-
less, hideous, hopeless, under the mocking sunlight.
Phyong-yang was not taken by assault ; there was no
actual fighting in the city, both the Chinese who fled and
the Japanese who occupied posed as the friends of Korea,
and all this wreck and ruin was brought about not by
enemies, but by those who professed to be fighting to give
her independence and reform. It had gradually come to
be known that the " wqjen (dwarfs) did not kfll Koreans,"
hence many had returned. Some of these unfortunate
fugitives were picking their way among the heaps, trying
xxvT THE RESULTS OF WAR 116
to find indications which might lead them to the spots
where all they knew of home once existed ; and here and
there, where a family found their walls and roof standing,
they put a door and window into one room and lived in
it among the ruins of five or six.
When the Japanese entered and found that the larger
part of the population had fled, the soldiers tore out the
posts and woodwork, and often used the roofs also for
fuel, or lighted fires on house floors, leaving them burning,
when the houses took fire and perished. They looted
the property left by the fugitives during three weeks after
the battle, taking even from Mr. Moflfett*s house $700
worth, although his servant made a written protest, the
looting being sanctioned by the presence of officers.
Under these circumstances the prosperity of the most
prosperous city in Korea was destroyed. If such are the
results of war in the " green tree," what must they be in
the " dry" ?
During the subsequent occupation the Japanese troops
behaved well, and all stores obtained in the town and
neighbourhood were scrupulously paid for. Intensely as
the people hated them, they admitted that quiet and
good order had been preserved, and they were very
apprehensive that on their withdrawal they would
sufier much from the Kun-ren-tai, a regiment of Koreans
drilled and armed by the Japanese, and these had
already begun to rob and beat the people, and to defy
the civil authorities. The main street on my second
visit had assumed a bustling appearance. There
was much building up and pulling down, for Japanese
traders had obtained all the eligible business sites, and
118 FltOM SONG-DO TO PHVONG-YANG chap.
wliich the ground faUo precipitously, to rise again iii a
knife-like ridge, the three highest points of which are
crowned with Chinese forts. From this pavilion the
wall, following the lie of the hill, slopes rapidly down to
a very picturesque and narrow gate, the ChU-sivng Mim
or Seven Star Gate, after which it trends in a north-
westerly direction to the Potong Miki.
In the pine wood, at the highest part of tlie angle
formed by the wall, General Tso liad built three mud forts
or camps with walls 10 feet high. The ground under the
XXVI GENERAL TSCS SORTIE 119
trees is dotted with the stone-lined cooking holes of his
men, blackened with the smoke of their last fires. On the
afternoon of the 15th of September 1894, General Tso and
his force, which mustered 5000 men when it left Muk-den,
but must have been greatly diminished by desertion and
death, made his fatal sally, passing through the ChU-
sung Mon and down the steep zigzag descent below it to
the plain, meeting his death probably within 300 yards of
the gate. The Koreans say that some of his men took up
the body, but were shot by the Japanese while removing
it, and that it was lost in the slaughter which ensued.
A neat obelisk, railed round, was erected by the Japanese
at the supposed spot, bearing on one face the inscription : —
Tso Pao-kuei, commander-in-chief of the Feng-tien division.
Place of death.
And on the other —
Killed while fighting with the Japanese troops at Phyong-
yang.
A graceful tribute to their ablest foe.
General Tso's troops, demoralised by his death, sought
refuge everywhere from the deadly fire of the Japanese, a
part flying back to their forts within the wall, while
many, probably blinded and desperate, rode along the pine
woods which densely cover the broken groimd outside, by
a path along a wide dry moat, which, three weeks later,
when Mr. Moflfett returned, was piled with the dead bodies
of their horses.
In the bright moonlight night which followed that day,
the Japanese stormed and took by assault the three
Chinese forts on the three summits of the ridge, which
120 FROM SOKG-DO TO PHYONG-YANG chap.
were the key of the position, enabling them to throw their
shell into the Chinese forts and camps within the ¥ralL
The beautiful pavilion at the angle of the wall is much
shattered, and big fragments of shell are embedded in its
pillars and richly-carved woodwork. So desperately
honied was the flight of the vanquished from the last
fort which held out, that they were mown down in
numbers as they ran down the steep hill, falling face
foremost with their outstretched hands clutching the
earth.
All was then lost, and why that doomed army, number-
ing then perhaps 12,000 men, did not surrender uncon-
ditionally, I cannot imagine. During the night, abandoning
guns and all war material, the remains of Tso's brigade
and all the infantry and unwounded men passed through
the deserted and silent city, surged out of the PoUmg
Mdn, crossed a shallow stream, and emerged upon a plain
girdled by low hills, and intersected by the Peking road,
the eastern extremity being occupied by some Chinese
forts and breastworks. Tso's cavalry attempted to cross
the plain and gain the shelter of some low hills, while
great numbers of the infantry took to the Peking road.
The horrors of that night will never be accurately
known. The battle of Phyong-yang was lost and won
when the forts were taken. What remained was less of a
battle than a massacre. Before the morning, this force,
the flower of the Chinese army as to drill and equipment,
had perished, those who escaped never reappearing as an
organised body. It is estimated that from 2000 to 4000
men were slain, with thousands of horses and bulls, the
cavalry being literally mown down in hundreds, and
XXV] THE HORROBS OF WAR 121
lying, men and horses, heaped "in mounds." For the
Japanese had girdled the plain with a ring of fire. Mr.
Moffett, who was there three weeks later, described the
scene even then as one of "indescribable horror." Still,
there were "mounds" of men and horses stiffened in the
death-agony, many having tried vainly to extricate them-
selves from the pile above them. There were blackened
corpses in hundreds lying along the Peking road, ditches
filled up with bodies of men and animals, fields sprinkled
with them, and rifles, muskets, paper umbrellas, fans,
coats, hats, sword-belts, scabbards, cartridge-boxes, sleeves,
and everything that could be cast away in a desperate
flight, strewing the ground. Numbers of the wounded
crept into the deserted houses and died there, some of the
bodies showing indications of suicide from agony, and
throughout this mass of human relics which lay blackening
and festering in the hot sun, dogs, left behind by their
owners, were holding high carnival. Even in my walks
over the battlefield, though the grain of another year had
ripened upon it, I saw human skulls, spines with ribs,
spines with the pelvis attached, arms and hands, hats,
belts, and scabbards.
On a lofty knoll within the wall, the Japanese have
erected a fine monolith to the memory of the 168 men
they lost. They turned the temple of the God of War into
a hospital, and there, cela va sans dire, their wounded were
admirably treated, and in another building the Chinese
wounded were carefully attended to, though naturally not
till many of them had died of their wounds on the battle-
field. A ghastly retribution followed the neglect to bury
the Chinese dead, for typhus fever broke out, and its
122 FROM SONG-DO TO PHYONG-YANG chap.
ravages among the Japanese troops may be partially
estimated by the long lines of graves in the military
cemetery at Chemulpo.
Outside the wall, in beautifully-broken ground, roughly
wooded with the Pinus sinensis, there are still bullets in
the branches, many of which were splintered by the iron
hail, and the temple at the tomb of Kit-ze, the founder of
Korean civilisation, must have been the centre of a deadly
fight, for its woodwork is riddled with bullets and damaged
by shell, and on its floor are great dark stains, where, when
the fight was over, the Japanese wounded lay in pools of
blood.
At some points, specially at the mud forts by the ferry,
the Chinese made a very determined stand for ten hours, so
that the Japanese troops wavered, and were only recovered
by a gallant dash made by General Oshima. Probably
the battle of Phyong-yang decided the fate of the
campaign.
Mr. Yi found an old book in eighteen vols, for sale,
which gives a history of this city. Many Korean matters are
lost in obscurity after one or two centuries, but the story
of Phyong-yang takes a bold backward leap and deals
fearlessly with the events of centuries b.c. Kit-ze, whose
fine reputed tomb and temples in the wood are still re-
garded with so much reverence that a stone tablet on the
road below warns equestrians to dismount in passing so
sacred a place, and who is said to have emigrated from
China in 1122 B.C., and to have founded a dynasty which
lasted for seven centuries, made Phyong-yang his capital.
The temple at his reputed grave, though full of bullets, is
in admirable repair, and its rich decorations have lately
XXVI A DECORATED TEMPLE 123
been renovated, a phenomenon in Korea. Near the city
is the standard of land-measurement which he introduced,
illustrated by ditches and paths cut, it is said, by himself.
The temple to the God of War at the foot of the hill
is perhaps the finest in Korea. Frescoes, as in the temple
to the same god outside the South Gate of Seoul, but on
a far grander scale, cover the walls of the corridors of one
of the courtyards, and the gigantic figures round the altar,
with the sacrificial utensils, hangings, and dresses, are
costly and magnificent Not far from this is a large and
wealthy Buddhist monastery.
CHAPTER XXVII
NORTHWARD HO I
For the northern journey simple preparations only were
needed, consisting of the purchase of candles and two
blankets for Im, in having two pheasants cooked, in
dispensing with one pony, leaving us the moderate allow-
ance of two baggage animals, and in depositing most of
my money with Mr. Moflfett. For there were rumours of
robbers on the road, and Mr. Yi left his fine clothes and
elegant travelling gear also behind.
On a brilliant morning (and when are Korean mornings
not brilliant?), passing through the gate out of which
General Tso made his last sally, and down the steep
declivity on which it opens, we travelled for a time along
the An Ju road, skirting the base of the hill on which the
Chinese cavalry made their desperate attack on an
intrenched position, and near the mins of two intrenched
camps, where they fell in hundreds before the merciless
fire of the enemy, and where himian bones were still lying
about. But where Death reaped that ghastly harvest
magnificent grain crops had recently been secured, and
the mellow sunlight shone on miles of stubble.
CHAP. XXVII THE RED MILLET 126
Shortly we turned oflf on a road untouched by the havoc
of war, and saw no more of the gaunt ruins or charred
remains of cottages. In that pleasant region ranges of
hills with pines on their lower slopes girdle valleys of rich
stoneless alluvium, producing abundantly cotton, tobacco,
castor oil, wheat, barley, peas, beans, and most especially,
the red and white millet. Wherever a lateral valley
descends upon the one through which the road passes,
there is a village of thatched houses, pretty enough at
a distance and embowered in fruit trees, while clumps
of pines, oaks, elms, and zelkawas denote the burial-places
of its dead, who are the guardians of the only fine timber
which is suffered to exist.
The hamlets along the road were cheerfully busy.
Millet was stacked in the village roadways, leaving only
room for one laden animal to pass at a time, and as all
the threshing of rice and grain is done with double flails
also in the village street, one actually rides over the
threshed product. The red or large millet is nearly as
useful to the Korean as is the bamboo to the Chinese. Its
stalks furnish fuel, material for mats and thick woven
fences, and even for houses, for in Phyong-an Do the walls
are formed of bundles of millet stalks 8 feet high for the
uprights, across which single stalks are laid, the interstices
being filled up with mud.
After two days of somewhat monotonous prettiness,
beyond Shou-yang-yi the country became really beautiful.
Some of the larger valleys were specially attractive, with
abundance of fruit and other deciduous trees below the
dark Finns sinensis on the hill -slopes, and there were
plenty of large villages with a general look of prosperity.
mmBmBamBBo^mmmmm
126 NORTHWARD HO ! chap.
everything, clothing included, being much cleaner than
usual There were fine views of lofty dog-tooth peaks,
and of serrated ranges running east and west. Nearly
every valley has its bright, rapid stream, on which the
hills descend on one side in abrupt and much-cavemed
limestone cliflFs, the other side being level and fertile. The
people there, and doubtless everywhere, were taken up
entirely with their own concerns, the new system of
taxation under which a fixed tax in money is levied on
the assessed value of the land meeting with their approval.
Events in Seoul had no interest for them. The recent
murder of the Queen and the imprisonment of the King
did not concern them, as there were no effects of either on
their circumstances. After crossing the pass of Miriok
Yang, 816 feet in altitude, in a romantic region, we entered
poorer country with stony soil, often piled with large
shingle by the violence of streams then perfectly dry.
By misdirection, misunderstanding, or complexity or
complete illegibility of the track, we spent much of the
day in losing and retracing our way, scrambling up steep
rock ladders, etc., and when we reached Kai-pang after
dusk we were for some time refused admission to the inn.
The owner said he could not take in any one travelling
with so many mapu (four) and a soldier. He was terrified.
He said we should go away in the morning without paying
him, and should beat him when he asked to be paid!
However, the mapu gave me such an excellent character
that at last he consented, and I had an excellent room, —
that is, the walls and roof were cream-washed, which gave
it a look of cleanliness. The timid innkeeper was old, and
this brought out the fact that when a local magistrate has
xxyii KOREAN PAPER 127
aged parents, it is customary for him to invite to an enter-
tainment everybody in his district between the ages of 60
and 100, and it is usual for the old men to take their
oldest grandsons with them as testimonies to their old
age. As every guest has to be accompanied fittingly, the
company often numbers 200.
At Ka-chang and elsewhere the pig-sties are much
more solid than the houses, being regular log cabins with
substantial roofs for the protection of their inmates from
tigers, or in that neighbourhood from wolves (?). These
pigs, of which every country family in Korea possesses
some, are of an absurdly small black breed, a full-grown
animal not weighing more than 26 lbs.
During the two days' journey from the market-place of
Sian-chong, we passed the magistracies of Cha-san and Un-
san, ferrying the Tai-dong just beyond Cha-san, where it is
a fine stream 317 yards broad, and is said by the ferrymen
to be 47 feet deep. All that region is well peopled and
fertile. There are no resident yang-hans in the province of
Phyong-an. Gold is obtained by a simple process all round
the country, specially at Keum-san. At Wol-po, a prettily
situated village, and elsewhere, a quantity of the coarser
descriptions of paper is made. Paper and tobacco were the
goods that were on the move, bound for Phyong-yang.
Paper is used for a greater variety of purposes in Korea
than anywhere else, and its toughness and durability
render it invaluable. The coarser sorts are made from
old rags and paper, the finer from the paper mulberry.
Paper is the one article of Korean manufacture which is
exported in any quantity to China, where it is used for
some of the same purposes.
IBS NORTHWARD HO ! chap.
Oil paper about a sixth of an inch in thickness ia pasted
on tho lioors instead of carpets or mats. It bears washing,
and takes a high polish from dry rubbing. In the Edyiil
Palaces, where two tints are used eareftdly, it resembles
oak parquet. It is also used for walls. A thinner quality
ia made into the folding, conical hat-covers which every
Korean carries in his sleeve, and into waterproof cloaks, coats
and baggage covers. A very thick kind of paper made of
several thicknesses beaten together is used for trunks,
which are strong enough to hold heavy articles. Lanterns,
tobacco-pouches, and fans are made of paper, and the
Korean wooden latticed windows from the palace to the
hovel are "glazed" with a thin, white, tough variety,
which is translucent. Much prized, however, were my
photographic glass plates when cleaned. Many a joyful
householder let one into his window, giving himself an
opportunity of amusement and espionage denied to hia
The day's journey from Ka-chang to Tok Chhou ia
through very atti'active scenery with grand mountain views.
After crossing a low but severe pass, we came down upon a
laige affluent of the Tai-dong, which for want of a name I
designate as the Ko-mop-ao, Howing as a full-watered, green
stream between lofty cliffs of much-cavemed limestone,
fantastically buttressed, and between hills which throw
out rocky spurs, terminating or thinning down into high
limestone walls, resembling those of ruinoua fortifications.
Again losing the way and our time, a struggle over a
rough pass brought us in view of the Tai-dong, with the
characteristics of its mountain course, long rapids with
glints of foam and rocks, long reaches of deep, still, slow-
xxvn DIFFICULT TRAVELLING 129
gliding jagged translucent green water broad and deep,
making constant abrupt turns, and by its volume suggesting
great powers of destructiveness when it is liberated from
its mountain barriers. In about a fortnight it would be
frozen for the winter. Diamond-flashing in the fine breeze,
below noble cliffs and cobalt mountains, across which cloud
shadows were sailing in indigo, under a vault of cloud-
flecked blue, that view was one of those dreams of beauty
which become a possession for ever.
From that pass the road, if it can be called such, is
shut in with the Tai-dong for 30 li. In some places there
is not room even for the narrowest bridle-track, and the
ponies scramble as they may over the rough boulders
which margin the water, and climb the worn, steep, and
rocky steps, often as high as their own knees, by which
the break-neck track is taken over the rocky spurs which
descend on the river. It is one of the worst pieces of
road I ever encountered, and it was not wonderful that we
did not meet a single traveller, and that there should be
only about nine a year ! We made by our utmost efforts
only a short mile an hour, and it took us five hours of this
severe work to reach the wretched hamlet of Huok Kuri,
a few hovels dumped down among heaps of stones and
great boulders, some of which served as backs for the
huts. Poverty-stricken, filthy, squalid, the few inhabitants
subsisted entirely on red millet ! Poor Mr. Yi, who had
had a wakeful night owing to vermin, said woefully as he
dismounted stiffly, " Sleepy, tired, cold, hungry," — and there
was nothing to eat, and little for the ponies either, which
may have been the reason that they got up a desperate
fight, of which they bore the traces for some days.
VOL. n K
130 NORTHWARD HO! cuiP,
The track eontimied shut iii by the high mountains
which line the Tai-dong till within a mile of Tok Chlion,
forcing the ponies to climh worn rock-ladders, or to pick a
perilous way among sharp-pointed rocks, I had not
thought that Korea could pioduce anything bo emphatic !
As the road occasionally broke up in face of some appar-
ently impassable spur, we occasionally got into impassable
places, and lost time so badly that we were benighted
when little more than half-way, but as there were no
inhabitants we pushed on as a matter of necessity. When
we got to better going the mapu, inspired by the double
terror of robbers and wild animals, hurried on the ponies,
yelling as they drove, and by the time we reached the Tok
Chhon ferry a young moon had risen, and the mountains in
shadow, and the great ferry-boat fuU of horses, men in
white, and bulls, in relief against the silvered water, made
a beautiful night scene. I sent on the ponies, and Im to
prepare my room, fully expecting comfort, as at Phyong-
yang, for though I could never find anybody who had
been at Tok Ohhon, it was always spoken of as a sort of
metropoliB.
It is indeed a magistracy, with a remarkably ruinous
yamen and a market-place, and is the chief town of a very
large region. It is entered from the river by stepping-
stones, through abominable slush, by a long naiTOw street,
from which we were directed on and on till we came to a
wide place, where the inns of the town ara There in the
moonlight a great masculine crowd had collected, and in
the middle of it were our mapu,, with the loads still on
their ponies, raging at large, and Im rushing hither and
thither like a madman. For they had been refused
xxvn ANTI-FOREIGN FEELING 131
accommodation, and every door had been barred against
them on the ground that I was a foreigner ! They said,
truly or felsely, that no foreigner had ever profaned Tok
Ghhon by his presence, that they lived in peace, and did not
want to be "implicated with a foreigner" (all foreigners
being Japanese). It is most disagreeable to force oneself
in even the slightest degree on any one, but I had been
twelve hours in the saddle, it was 8 P.M., there was snow
on the ground, and it was freezing hard I The yard door
of one inn was opened a chink for a moment, our men
rushed for it, but it was at once barred, and we were all
again left standing in the street, the centre of a crowd
which increased every moment.
Our men eventually forced open the door of one inn
and got their ponies in. Then the paper was torn off two
doors, and Im was visible against the light from within
tearing about like a black daemon. We had then stood
like statues for two hours with our feet in freezing slush,
the great crowd preserving a ring round us, staring stolidly,
but not showing any hostility. At last Im appeared at
an open door, waving my chair, and we got into a high,
dark lumber-room ; but the crowd was too quick for us,
and came tumbling in behind us till the place was fulL
Then the landlord closed the doors, but they were smashed
in, and he had no better luck when he weakly besought
the people to look at him and not at the stranger, for his
entreaty only produced an ebullition of Korean wit, by no
means complimentary. An ofi&cial from the yomen arrived
and inquired if I had any complaint to make, but I had
none, and he sat down and took a prolonged stare on his
own account, not making any attempt to disperse the crowd.
132 NORTHWARD HOI ckap.
So I sat facing the door, Mr. Ti nob far off smoking
endless cigarettes, while Im battled for a room, after one
he had secured had its doors broken down by the crowd.
I sat for two hours longer in that cold, ruinoms, miaerable
place, two front and three back doorways filled up with
men, the whole male population of Tok Chhon, and,
never moved a muscle or showed any s^n of dissatis-
faction ! gome sat on the door-sill, little men were on the
shoulders of big onea, all, inside and outside, clamouring
at once.
The situation m^ht have been serious had a European
man been with me, and the experiences of Mr. Campbell
of the Consular Service, at Kapsan, might have been
repeated, No Englishman could have kept hia temper in
such circumstances from 8 p.m. till midnight. He would
certainly have knocked somebody down, and then there
would have been a fight. The ill-bred curiosity tires but
does not annoy me, though it exceeded all bounds that
night. Fortunately for me, a Korean gentleman is taught
from his earliest boyhood that he must never lose his
temper, and that it is a degradation to him to touch an
inferior, therefore he must never strike a servant or one
of the lower orders.
At midnight, probably weary of our passivity, and
anxious for sleep, the inn people consented to give me a
room in the back-yard if I did not object to one " prepared
for sacrifice," and containing the ancestral tablets. The
crowd then filled the back -yard, and attempted to pour into
my room, when Im's sorely-tried patience gave way for
only the second time, and he knocked people down right
and left. This, and the contents of a fire-bowl which was
A "TABLET HOUSE" 133
upset in the scrimmage, helped to scatter the crowd, but
it was there again at daylight, attempting to enter every
time Im opened the door !
The " room prepared for sacrifice " in aspect was a
small bam, fearfully dirty and littered with rubbish, and
bundles of rags, rope, and old shoes were tucked away
among the beams and rafters. My camp-bed cut it
exactly in half. In the inner half there was a dusty
table, and behind it on a black stand a dusty black shrine,
at the back of which waa a four-leaved screen covered with
long strips of paper, on which were poems in praise of the
deceased. In front, dividing the room, and falUng from
the roof to the floor, was a curtain made of two widths of
very dirty foreign calico. Among the poor, instead of
setting food before the ancestral shrine twice or thrice
daily during the three years of mourning for a parent, it
ifl only plaeed there twice a month. In a small white
wooden tablet within the shrine popular belief places the
residence of the third soul of the deceased, as I have
mentioned before.
I spent two days at Tok Chhon. Properly speakii^,
the Tai-dong is never navigable to that point, owing to
many and dangerous rapids, and any idea of the possibility
of this highly picturesque stream becoming "a great
oonunercial highway" may be utterly dismissed. Small
boats can ascend it at all seasons to Mou-chin Tai, about
140 li lower down, and during two summer montlis, when
the water is high, a few with much difficulty get up to
Tok Chhon, and even a few li farther, and at the same
season rafts descend from the forests of the Tung-won
district, from 30 to 40 li higher; but owing to severe
136 NORTHWARD HOI ohap.xxvii
edict abolishing this attendance, and reducing the salaries
of magistrates, had recently been promulgated. At Tok
Chhon, the ruin and decay of oflBcial buildings, and the
filth and squalor of the private dwellings, could go no
farther.
CHAPTEE XXVIII
FROM TOK CHHON TO PHYONG-YANG
Finding the Tai-dong totally impracticable, and being
limited as to time by the approach of the closing of the
river below Phyong-yang by ice, I regretfully turned
southwards, and journeyed Seoul-wards by another route,
of much interest, which touches here and there the right
bank of the Tai-dong.
As I sat amidst the dirt, squalor, rubbish, and odd-and-
endism of the inn yard before starting, surrounded by an
apathetic, dirty, vacant - looking, open-mouthed crowd
steeped in poverty, I felt Korea to be hopeless, helpless,
pitiable, piteous, a mere shuttlecock of certain great
powers, and that there is no hope for her population of
twelve or fourteen millions, unless it is taken in hand
by Eussia, under whose rule, giving security for the gains
of industry as well as light taxation, I had seen Koreans
in hundreds transformed into energetic, thriving, peasant
farmers in Eastern Siberia.
The road, which was said, and truly, to be a very bad
one, crosses a small plain, and passing under a roofed gate-
way between two hills which are scarred by remains of
138 FROM TOK CHHON TO PHYONG-YANG chap.
fortifications running east and west, enters upon really
fine scenery, which becomes magnificent in about 30 li, at
first a fertile mountain-girdled basin, whose rim is spotted
with large villages, and then a narrowing valley with
stony soil, and a sparse population, walled in by savage
mountains of emphatic forms, swinging apart at times,
and revealing loftier peais and ranges then glittering with
new-fallen snow.
In crossing the plain at a point where the road was
good, I was remarking to Mr. Yi what a pleasant and
prosperous journey we had had, and hoping our good
fortune might continue, when there was a sudden claah
and flurry, I was nearly kicked off my pony, and in a
moment we were in the midst of disaster. One baggage
pony was on his back on his load, pawing the air in the
middle of a ploughed field, his mapu helpless for the time,
lamed by a kick above the knee, sobbing, blood and te€u*8
running down his face ; the other baggage animal, having
divested himself of Im, was kicking off the rest of his
load ; and Im, who had been thrown from the top of the
pack, was sitting on the roadside, evidently in intense
pain — all the work of a moment. Mr. Yi called to me
that the soldier had broken his ankle, and it was a great
relief when he rose and walked towards me. Everything
breakable was broken except my photographic camera,
which I did not look at for two days for fear of what I
might find !
Leaving the men to get the loads and ponies together,
we walked on to a hamlet so destitute as not to be able
to provide either wood or wadding for a splint ! I picked
up a thick faggot, however, which had been dropped from
xxvm A BROKEN ABM 139
a load, and it was thinned into being usable with a hatchet,
the only tool the viUage possessed, and after padding it
with a pair of stockings and making a six-yard bandage out
of a cotton garment, I put up Im's right arm, which was
broken just above the wrist, in splints, and made a sling
out of one of the two towels which the rats had left to
me. I shoidd have been glad to know Korean enough to
rate the gossiping mapii^ three men to two horses, who
allowed the accident to happen.
The animals always fight if they are left to themselves,
and loads and riders are nowhere. One day Mr. Yi had
a bit of a finger taken off in a fight, and if a strange brute
had not kicked my stirrup iron (which waa bent by the
blow) instead of myself, I should have had a broken ankle.
When we halted at mid-day the villagers tried hard to
induce Im to have his arm '' needled " to '' let out the bad
blood," a most risky surgical proceeding, which often
destroys the usefulness of a limb for life, and he was
anxious for it, but yielded to persuasion.
Being delayed by this accident, it was late when we
started to cross the pass of An-kil Yung, regarded as " the
most dangerous in Korea," owing to its liability to sudden
fogs and violent storms, 3346 feet in altitude, and said to
be 30 li long.
The infamous path traverses a wild rocky glen with an
impetuous torrent at its bottom, and only a few wretched
hamlets, in which the hovels are indistinguishable from
the millet and brushwood stacks, along its length of several
miles. Poverty, limiting the. people to the barest
necessaries of life, is the lot of the peasant in that region,
but I believe that his dirty and squalid habits give an
140 FROM TOK CHHON TO PHYONG-YANG chap.
impression of want which does not actually exist. I
doubt much whether any Koreans are unable to provide
themselves with two daily meals of millet, with clothes
sufficient for decency in summer and for warmth in
winter, and with fuel (grass, leaves, twigs, and weeds)
enough to keep their miserable rooms at a temperature
of 70° and more by means of the hot floor.
To the west the valley is absolutely closed in by a wall
of peaks. The bridle-path, a well-engineered road, when
it ascends the very steep ridge of the watershed in many
zigzags, rests for 100 feet, and descends the western side
by seventy-five turns. Except in Tibet, I never saw so
apparently insurmountable an obstacle, but it does not
present any real difficulty. The ascent took seventy
minutes. Eain fell very heavily, but the superb view to
the north-east was scarcely obscured. At the top, which
is only 100 feet wide, there is a celebrated shrine to the
daemon of the pass. To him all travellers put up petitions
for deliverance from the many malignant spirits who are
waiting to injure them, and for a safe descent. The shrine
contains many strips of paper inscribed with the names of *
those who have made special payments for special prayers,
and a few wreaths and posies of faded paper flowers. The
woman who lives in the one hovel on the pass makes a
good living by receiving money from travellers, who offer
rice cakes and desire prayers. The worship is nearly all
done by proxy, and the rice cakes do duty any number of
times.
Besides the shrine and a one -roomed hovel, there
are some open sheds made of millet-stalks to give shelter
during storms. The An-kil Yung pass is blocked by snow
I
CRAMPED QUAETEBS 141
tfor three months of the year, but at other times is much
'-used in spite of its great height. Excellent potatoea are
grown on the mountain slopes at an altitude exceeding
' 3000 feet, and round Tok Chlion they are largely cultivated
and enter into the diet of the people, never having had
the disease.
Darkness came on prematurely with the heavy rain,
' and we asked the shrine-keeper to give us shelter for the
night, hut she said that to take in sis men and a foreign
woman was impoaaible, as she had only one room. But it
was equally impossible for us to descend the pass in the
darkness with ticed ponies, and after half an hour's alterca-
tion the matter was arranged, Im, who retained his wits,
securing for me a degree of privacy by hanging some
heavy mata from a beam, giving me, I am sure, the lion's
share of the apartment. Eeally the accommodation was not
much worse than usual, but though the mercury fell to the
freezing point, the hot floor kept the inside temperature
up to 83°, and the dread of tigers on the part of my
hostess forbade my having even a chink of the door
open!
The rain cleared off in time for the last sunset gleam
on the distant mountains, which, when darkness fell on
the pass, burned fiery red against a strip of pale green sky,
taking on afterwards one by one the ashy look of death as
the light died off from their snows. All about An-kil
Yung the mountains are wooded to their summits with
deciduous trees, the ubiquitous Pinua sinensis being rare;
but to the northward in the direction of Paik-tu San the
character of the scenery changes, and peaks and precipices
of naked rock, and lofty mountain monoliths, with snow-
148 FROM TOff CHHON TO PHYOSG-TANG chap.
crowned ranges beyond, form b; far the grandest view that
[ saw in this land of hill and valley.
Then Im had to be attended to, and though I was very
anxious about him, I could not be blind to the pictureeque-
nesa of the Bcene in the hovel, Mr. Yi sitting in my chair
holding the candle, the soldier, with his face puckered with
pain, squatting on the floor with his swollen arm lying on
a writing board on my lap, and no room to move. I failed
there aa elsewhere to get a better piece of wood for the
splint, which was too short, and I could only get wadding
for padding it by taking some out of Im's sleeve, and all
the time and afterwards I was very anxious for fear that
I had put the bandage ou too tightly or too loosely, and
that my want of experience would give the poor fellow a
useless right arm. He was in severe pain all that night,
hut he was very plucky about it, made no fuss, and never
allowed me to suffer in the slightest degree from his
accident. Indeed, he waa even more attentive than
before. He said to Mr. Vi, " The foreign woman looked so
sorry, and touched my arm aa if I had been one of her
own people, I shall do my beet" — and so he did. I had
indulged in a long perspective of pheasant curries, and I
must confess that when the prospect faded I felt a little
dismal. To a traveller who carries no " foreign food," it
makes a great difference to get a nice, hot, stimulating dish
(even though it is served in the pot it is cooked in) after
a ten hours' cold ride, To my surprise, I waa never
without curry for dinner, and though before the accident
I had only cold rice for tiffin, after it I waa never with-
out something hot.
The descent of An-kil Yung is very grand. The roatl
X3vm DESCENT OF THE AN-KIL YUNG PASS K3
leads ioto a wide valley with a fine stream, one aide of
' which looks aa if the moiintaiiis had dumped down all
their avaOable stones upon it, while the other is rich
alluvial soil. Gold-washing ia carried on to a great
extent along this stream, which ia a tributary of the
Tai-dong, and some of the workings show more care and
method than usual, being pits neatly lined with stone in
their upper parts. Eighty cents per day is the average
earning of a gold-seeker there. This valley terminates in
pretty, broken country, with fine mountain views, and
picturesque cliffs along the river, on which the dark blue
gloom of pines was lighted by the fading scarlet of the
maple, and crimson streaks of the Amqiehpsis Vdtchii
brightened the russet into which the countleaa trailers
which draped the rocka had passed. The increased fertility
of the soil was denoted by the number of villages and
hamlets on the road, and foot-passengers in twos and
threes gave something of life and movement. But it waa
remarkable that so soon after the harvest, and when the
I roads were in their beat condition, there were no goods
' in transit except such local productions as paper and
tobacco — no strings of porters or ponies carrying goods
into the interior from Phyong-yang, no evidence of trade
but that given by the pedlars going the round of the
market-places.
I Along that road and elsewhere near the villages there
are tall poles branching at the top into a V, which are
erected in the belief that they will guard the inhabitants
from cholera and other pestilences. On that day's journey,
at a cross-road, a small log with several holes like those of
ouae-trap, one of them plugged doubly with buuga of
144 FROM TOK CHHCjN TO PHYONG-YANG chap.
wood, was lying on the path, and the mapu were careful to
step over it and lead their ponies over it, though it might
easily have been avoided. Into the bunged hole the
mvAang or sorceress by her arts had inveigled a daemon
which was causing sickness in a family, and had corked
him up \ It is proper for passers-by to step over the log.
At nightfall it is buried. That afternoon's ride was
through extremely attractive country — small valley
basins of rich stoneless soil, with brown hamlets nestling
round them in calm, pine-sheltered folds of hills, which
though not high are shapely, and were etherealised into
purple beauty by the sinking sun, which turned the lake-
like expanse of the Tai-dong at Mou-chin Tai, the beauti-
fully situated halting-place for the night, into a sheet of
gold.
With a splendid climate, an abundant, but not super-
abundant, rainfall, a fertile soil, a measure of freedom
&om civil war and robber bands, the Koreans ought to be
a happy and fairly prosperous people. K "squeezing,"
yamm, runners and their exactions, and certain malign
practices of officials can be put down with a strong hand,
and the land-tax is fairly levied and collected, and law
becomes an agent for protection rather than an instrument
of injustice, I see no reason why the Korean peasant
should not be as happy and industrious as the Japanese
peasant. But these are great " ifs " ! Secfu/rUyfor the gains
of industry y from whatever quarter it comes, will, I believe,
transform the limp, apathetic native. Such ameliorations
as have been made are owed to Japan, but she had not
a free hand, and she was too inexperienced in the r61e
which she undertook (and I believe honestly) to play, to
xxvra THE KOBEAN WORM TURNS 146
produce a harmonious working scheme of reform. Besides,
the men through whom any such scheme must be carried
out are nearly imiversally corrupt both by tradition and
habit. Beform was jerky and piecemeal, and Japan
irritated the people by meddlesomeness in small matters
and suggested interferences with national habits, giving the
impression, which I found prevailing everywhere, that her
object was to denationalise the Koreans for purposes of
her own.
Travellers are much impressed with the laziness of the
Koreans, but after seeing their energy and industry in
Bussian Manchuria, their thrift, and the abimdant and
comfortable furnishings of their houses, I greatly doubt
whether it is to be regarded as a matter of temperament.
Every man in Korea knows that poverty is his best
security, and that anything he possesses beyond that
which provides himself and his family with food and
clothing is certain to be taken from him by voracious and
corrupt officials. It is only when the exactions of officials
become absolutely intolerable and encroach upon his
means of providing the necessaries of life that he resorts
to the only method of redress in his power, which has a
sort of counterpart in China. This consists in driving out,
and occasionally in killing, the obnoxious and intolerable
magistrate, or, as in a case which lately gained much
notoriety, roasting his favourite secretary on a wood pile.
The popular outburst, though under unusual provocation
it may culminate in deeds of regrettable violence, is usually
founded on right, and is an effective protest.
Among the modes of squeezing are forced labour,
doubling or trebling the amount of a legitimate tax, exact-
VOL. II L
146 FROM TOK CHHCjN TO PHYONG-YANG ch. xxviii
ing bribes in cases of litigation, forced loans, etc. If a man
is reported to have saved a little money, an official asks for
the loan of it. If it is granted, the lender frequently never
sees principal or interest ; if it is refused, he is arrested,
thrown into prison on some charge invented for his
destruction, and beaten imtil either he or his relations for
him produce the sum demanded. To such an extent are
these demands carried, that in Northern Korea, where the
winters are fairly severe, the peasants, when the harvest
has left them with a few thousand cdsh, put them in a
hole in the ground, and pour water into it, the frozen
mass which results being then earthed over, when it is
fairly safe both from officials and thieves.
CHAPTEE XXIX
THE POSITION OF KOREAN WOMEN
Mau-chin-tai is a beautifully-situated village, and has
something of a look of comfort. Up to that point small
boats can come at all seasons, but there is almost no
trade. The Tai-dong expands into a broad sheet of water,
on which the hills descend abruptly. There is a ferry, and
we drove our ponies into the ferry-boat and yelled for the
ferryman. After a time he appeared on the top of the
bank, but absolutely declined to take us over "for any
money." He would have " nothing to do with a foreigner,"
he said, and he would not be " implicated with a Japanese " !
So we put ourselves across, and the mapu were so angry
that they threw his poles into the river.
Passing through very pretty country, and twice crossing
the Tai-dong, we halted at the town of Sun-chhon, a
magistracy with a deplorably ruinous yamen. All these
of&cial buildings have seen better days. Their courts are
spacious, and the double-roofed gateways, with their drum
towers, as well as the central hall of the yamien, still
retain a certain look of stateliness, though paint, lacquer,
and gilding have long ago disappeared from the elaborately-
148 THE POSITION OF KOBEAN WOMEN chap.
arranged beams and carved wood of the roofs, and the
fretwork screening the interiors is always shabby and
broken.
About the Sun Chhon yarrien, and all others, there are
crowds of "runners," writers, soldiers in coarse ragged
uniforms, young men of the yang-han class in spotless
white garments, lounging, or walking with the swinging
gait befitting their position, while the decayed and forlorn
rooms in the courtyard are filled with petty officials
smoking long pipes and playing cards. To judge from
the crowds of attendants, the walking hither and thither,
the hurrying in various directions with manuscripts, and
the din of drums and fifes when the great gate is opened
and closed, one would think that nothing less than the
business of an empire was transacted within the ruinous
portals.
Soldiers, writers, yamen runners, and men of the yatig-
ban and literary classes combined with the loafers of
the town to compose a crowd which, by its buzzing and
shouting, and tearing off the paper from my latticed door,
gave me a fatiguing and hideous two hours, a Korean
crowd being only tmheamble when it is led by men of the
literary class, who, as in China, indulge in every sort of
vulgar impertinence. Eventually I was smuggled into
the women's apartments, where I was victimised in other
ways by insatiable curiosity.
The women of the lower classes in Korea are ill-bred
and unmannerly, far removed from the gracefulness of the
same class in Japan or the reticence and kindliness of the
Chinese peasant women. Their clothing is extremely
dirty, as if the men had a monopoly of their ceaseless
KOREAN LAUNDRY-WORK
149
laundry -work, which everywhere goes on far into the
n^t. Every brook-side has its laundreeses squatting on
flat stones, dipping the soiled clothes in the water, laying
them on flat stones in tightly-rolled huiidlea and heating
them with fiat paddles, a previous process consisting of
steeping them in a ley made of wood ashes. Bleached
under the brilhant sun and very slightly glazed with rice
starch, after being beaten for a length of time with short
quick taps on a wooden roller with club-shaped " laundry
sticks," common white cotton looks like dull white satin,
and has a dazzling whiteness which always reminds me ot
St. Mark's words concerning the raiment at the Trans-
figuration, "so as no fuller on earth can white them.
This wearing of white clothes, and especially of white
wadded clothes in winter, entails very severe and incessant
labour on the women. The coats have to be unpicked
and put together again each time that they are washed,
and though some of the long seams are often joined with
paste, there is still much sewing to be done.
160 THE POSITION OF KOEEAN WOMEN chap.
Besides this the Korean peasant woman makes all the
clothing of the household, does all the cooking, husks and
cleans rice with a heavy pestle and mortar, carries heavy
loads to market on her head, draws water, in r^note
districts works in the fields, rises early and takes rest late,
spins and weaves, and as a rule has many children, who
are not weaned till the age of three.
The peasant woman may be said to have no pleasures.
She is nothing but a drudge, till she can transfer some of
the drudgery to her daughter-in-law. At thirty she looks
fifty, and at forty is frequently toothless. Even the love
of personal adornment fades out of her life at a very early
age. Beyond the daily routine of life it is probable that
her thoughts never stray except to the daemons, who are
supposed to people earth and air, and whom it is her special
duty to propitiate.
It is really difficult to form a general estimate of the
position of women in Korea. Absolute seclusion is the
inflexible rule among the upper classes. The ladies have
their own courtyards and apartments, towards which no
windows from the men's apartments must look. No
allusion must be made by a visitor to the females of the
household. Inquiries after their health would be a gross
breach of etiquette, and politeness requires that they
should not be supposed to exist. Women do not receive
any intellectual training, and in every class are regarded
as beings of a very inferior order. Nature having in the
estimation of the Korean man, who holds a sort of dual
philosophy, marked woman as his inferior, the YoutKs
Primer, Historical Summaries, and the Littk Learning
impress this view upon him in the schools, and as he
XXIX THE SECLUSION OF WOMEN 161
begins to mix with men this estimate of women receives
daily corroboration.
The seclusion of women was introduced five centuries
ago by the present dynasty, in a time of great social
corruption, for the protection of the family, and has prob-
ably been continued, not, as a Korean frankly told Mr.
Heber Jones, because men distrust their wives, but because
they distrust each other, and with good reason, for the
immorality of the cities and of the upper classes 6dmost
exceeds belief. Thus all young women, and aU older
women except those of the lowest class, are secluded within
the inner courts of the houses by a custom which has more
than the force of law. To go out suitably concealed at
night, or on occasions when it is necessary to travel or to
make a visit, in a rigidly-closed chair, are the only " out-
ings " of a Korean woman of the middle and upper classes,
and the low-class woman only goes out for purposes of
work.
The murdered Queen told me, in allusion to my own
Korean journeys, that she knew nothing of Korea, or even
of the capital, except on the route of the Kur-dong.
Daughters have been put to death by their fathers,
wives by their husbands, and women have even committed
suicide, la,ccording to Dallet, when strange men, whether
by accident or design, have even touched their hands, and
quite lately a serving- woman gave as her reason for remiss-
ness in attempting to save her mistress, who perished in a
fire, that in the confusion a man had touched the lady,
making her not worth saving !
The law may not enter the women's apartments. A
noble hiding himself in his wife's rooms cannot be seized
152
THE POSITION OF KOREAN WOMEN
for any crime except that of rebellion. A man wishing to
repair his roof must notify his neighbours, lest by any
chance he should see any of their women. After the age of
seven, hoys and girls part company, and the giria are rigidly
secluded, seeing none of the male aex except their fathers
and brothers until the date of marriage, after which th
can only see their own and their husbands' near male
relations. Girl children, even among the very poor, are s
snccessfully hidden away, that in somewhat extensive
Korean journeys I never saw one girl who looked above
the age of six, except hanging listlessly about in the
women's rooms, and the brightness which girl life contri-
butes to social existence is unknown in the country.
But I am far from saying that the women fret and
groan under this system, or crave for the freedom which
European women enjoy. Seclusion is the custom of
centuries. Their idea of Hherty is peril, and I quite
believe that they think that they are closely guarded
because they are valuable chattels. One intelligent woman,
when I pressed her hard to say what they thought of our
customs in the matter, replied, "We think that your
husbands don't care for you very much " I
Concubinage is a recognised institution, but not a
respected one. The wife or mother of a man not i
frequently selects the concubine, who in many cases is
looked upon by the wife as a proper appendage of her
husband's means or position, much as a carriage or a butler
might be with us. The offspring in these cases are under
a serious social stigma, and until lately have been excluded
from some desirable positions. Legally the Korean is a
strict monogamist, and even when a widower marries
c DISABILITIES OF WOMEN IS3
^;am, and there are children by the aecond marriage,
those of the first wife retain special righte.
There are no native Bchoolsfor girl9,and though women of
the upper classes learn to read the native script, the number
of Korean women who can read is estimated at two in a
thousand. It appears that a philosophy largely imported
from China, superstitions regarding demons, the education
of men, illiteracy, a minimum of legal rights, and inexorable
custom have combined to give woman as low a status in
civilised Korea as in any of the barbarous countries in the
world. Yet there is no doubt that the Korean woman, in
addition to being a born intriguante, exercises a certain
direct influence, especially as mother and mother-in-law,
and in the arrangement of marriages.
Her rights are few, and depend on custom rather than
law. She now possesses the right of remarriage, and that of
remaining unmarried till she is sixteen, and she can reiuse
permission to her husband for his concubines to occupy
the same house with herself. She is powerless to divorce
her husband, conjugal fidelity, typified by the goose, the
symbolic figure at a wedding, being a feminine virtue
solely. Her husband may cast her off for seven reasons —
incurable disease, theft, childlessness, infidehty, jealousy,
incompatibility with her parents-in-law, and a quarrelsome
disposition. She may be sent back to her father's house
for any one of these causes. It is believed, however, that
desertion is far more frequent than divorce. By custom
rather than law she has certain recognised rights, as to
the control of children, redress in case of damage, etc.
Domestic happiness is a thing she does not look for. The
Korean has a house, but no home. The husband has his
164 THE POSITION OF KOREAN WOMEN chap, xxix
life apaxt ; common ties of friendship and external interest
are not known. His pleasure is taken in company with male
acquaintances and gesang ; and the marriage relationship
is briefly summarised in the remark of a Korean gentleman
in conversation with me on the subject, " We marry our
wives, but we love our concubines."
CHAPTEE XXX
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
At Cha san,a magistracy, we rejoined the road from which
we had diverged on the northward journey. It is a quiet,
decayed place, though in a good agricultural country. As
I had been there before, the edge of curiosity was blunted,
and there was no mobbing. The people gave a distressing
account of their sufferings from the Chinese soldiers, who
robbed them unscrupulously, took what they wanted with-
out paying, and maltreated the womea The Koreans
deserted, through fright, the adjacent ferry village of Ou-
Chin-gang, where we previously crossed the Tai-dong,
and it was held by 63 Chinese, being an important
post. Two Japanese scouts appeared on the other side of
the river, fired, and the Chinese detachment broke and
fled! At Cha san, as elsewhere, the people expressed
intense hatred of the Japanese, going so far as to say that
they would not leave one of them alive; but, as in all other
places, they bore unwilling testimony to the good conduct
of the soldiers, and the regularity with which the- com-
missariat paid for suppUes.
The Japanese detachments were being withdrawn from
166 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS cb
the posts along that road, and we passed several well-
equipped detachments, always preceded hy bulla loaded
with red blankete. The men were dressed in heavy gray
ulsters with deep fur-lined collars, and had very thick felt
gloves. They marched aa if on parade, and their officera
were remarkable for their smartness. When they halted
for dinner, they found everything ready, and had nothing
to do but stack their arms and eat ! The peasant women
went on with their avocations as usual. In that district
and in the region about Tok Chhon, the women seclude
themselves in monstrous bats like our wicker garden
sentry-boxes, but without bottoms. These extraordinary
coverings are 7 feet long, 5 broad, and 3 deep, and shroud
the figure from head to foot. Heavy rain fell during
the night, and though the following day was beautiful,
the road was a deep quagmire, so infamously bad that
when only two and a half hours from Phjong-yang we had
to stop at the wayside inn of An-chin-Miriok, where I
slept in a granary only screened from the stable by a
bamboo mat, and had the benefit of the squealing and
vindictive sounds which accompanied numerous abortive
fights. If possible, the next day exceeded its predecessors
in beauty, and though the drawbacks of Korean travellmg
are many, this journey had been so bright and so singularly
prosperous, except for Im's accident, which, however,
brought ont some of the best points of Korean character,
that I was even sorry to leave the miserable little hostelry
and conclude the expedition, and part with the vutpn, who
throughout had behaved extremely welL The next morn-
ing, crossing the battle-field once more and passing through
the desolations which war had wrought, I reached my old,
I
PRECARIOUS TRANSPORT 167
cold, but comparatively comfortable quarters at Phyong-
yang, where I remained for six days.
While the river remained open, a small Korean steamer
of uncertain habita, the Earwng, plied nominally between
Phyong-yang aud Chemulpo, but actually ran from Po-aan,
a point about 60 li lower down the Tai-dong, which
above it is too shallow and full of sandbanks for vessels
of any draught, necessitatiDg the transhipment of all goods
not brought up by junks of small tonnage. There was,
however, no telegraph between Po-san and Phyiing-yang,
no one knew when the steamer arrived except by cai^o
cmmuig up the river, and she only remained a few hours ;
80 that my visit to Phyong-yang was agitated by the fear
of losing her, and having to make a long land journey
when time was precious. There was no Korean post, and
the Japanese military post and telegraph offlce absolutely
refused to carry messages or letters for civilians. Wild
rumours, oi' which there were a goodly crop every hour,
were the substitute for news,
A subject of special interest and inquiry at Phyong-
yang was mission work as carried on by American
missionaries. At Seoul it is far more difficult to get
into touch with it, as, being older, it has naturally more of
religious conventionality. But I will take this opportunity
of saying that longer and more intimate acquaintance only
confirmed the high opinion I early formed of the large
body of missionaries in Seoul, of their earnestness and
devotion to their work, of the energetic, hopeful, and
patient spirit in which it is carried on, of the harmony
prevailing among the different denominations, and the
cordial and sympathetic feeling towards the Koreans.
168 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS chap.
The interest of many of the missionaries in Korean
history, folklore, and customs, as evidenced by the pages
of the valuable monthly, the Korean Repository, is also
very admirable, and a traveller in Korea must apply to
them for information vainly sought elsewhere.
Christian missions were unsuccessful in Phyong-yang.
It was a very rich and very immoral city. More than
once it turned out some of the missionaries, and rejected
Christianity with much hostility. Strong antagonism
prevailed, the city was thronged with gesang, courtesans,
and sorcerers, and was notorious for its wealth and infamy.
The Methodist Mission was broken up for a time, and
in six years the Presbyterians only numbered 28 converts.
Then came the war, the destruction of Phyong-yang,
its desertion by its inhabitants, the ruin of its trade,
the reduction of its population from 60,000 or 70,000 to
15,000, and the flight of the few Christians.
Since the war there had been a very great change.
There had been 28 baptisms, and some of the most
notorious evil livers among the middle classes, men
shunned by other men for their exceeding wickedness,
were leading pure and righteous lives. There were 140
catechumens under instruction, and subject to a long
period of probation before receiving baptism, and the
temporary church, though enlarged during my absence,
was so overcrowded that many of the worshippers were
compelled to remain outside. The oflfertories were liberal.^
^ The Seoul Christian News, a paper recently started, gave its readers
an account of the Indian famine, with the result that the Christians in the
magistracy of Chang-yang raised among themselves $84 for the sufferers
in a land they had hardly heard of, some of the women sending their solid
stiver rings to be turned into ccuh. In Seoul the native Presbyterian
XXX MISSION WORK 159
In the dilapidated extra-mural premises occupied by the
missionaries, thirty men were living for twenty-one days,
two from each of fifteen villages, all convinced of the truth
of Christianity, and earnestly receiving instruction in Chris-
tian fact and doctrine. They were studying for six hours
daily with teachers, and for a far longer time amongst them-
selves, and had meetings for prayer, singing, and informal
talk each evening. I attended three of these, and as Mr.
Moflfett interpreted for me, I was placed in touch with
much of what was unusual and interesting, and learned
more of missions in their earlier stage than anywhere else.
Besides the thirty men from the villages, the Christians
and catechumens from the city crowded the room and
doorways. Two missionaries sat on the floor at one end
of the room with a kerosene lamp mounted securely on
two wooden pillows in front of them: — then there were a
few candles on the floor, centres of closely-packed groups.
Hymns were howled in many keys to familiar tunes,
several Koreans prayed, bowing their foreheads to the
earth in reverence, after which some gave accounts of how
the Gospel reached their villages, chiefly through visits
from the few Phyong-yang Christians, who were " scattered
abroad," and then two men, who seemed very eloquent
as well as fluent, and riveted the attention of all, gave narra-
tives of two other men who they believed were possessed
with devils, and said the devils had been driven out a few
months previously by imited prayer, and that the " foul
spirits " were adjured in the name of Jesus to come out,
churches gave $60 to the same fund, of which $20 were collected hy a new
congregation organised entirely by Koreans. I am under the impression
that the liberality of the Korean Christians in proportion to their means
far exceeds our own.
160 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS chap.
and that the men trembled and turned cold as the devils
lefb them, never to return, and that both became Christians^
along with many who saw them.
A good many men came from distant villages one
afternoon to ask for Christian teaching, and in the evening
one after another got up and told how a refagee from
Phyong-yang had come to his village and had told them
that they were both wicked and foolish to worship daemons,
and that they were wrongdoers, and that there is a Lord
of Heaven who judges wrongdoing, but that He is as loving
as any father, and that they did not know what to think,
but that in some plsu^es twenty and more were meeting
daily to worship "the Highest," and that many of the
women had buried the daemon fetishes, and that they
wanted some one to go and teach them how to worship
the true God.
A young man told how his father, nearly eighty years
old, had met Mr. Mofifett by the roadside, and hearing &om
him ''some good things," had gone home saying he had
heard " good news," " great news," and had got " the Books,"
and that he had become a Christian, and lived a good life, and
had called his neighbours together to hear " the news," and
would not rest till his son had come to be taught in the
" good news," and take back a teacher. An elderly man,
who had made a good Uving by sorcery, came and gave
Mr. Moffett the instruments of his trade, saying he " had
served devils all his life, but now he knew that they were
wicked spirits, and he was serving the true God."
On the same afternoon four requests for Christian
teaching came to the missionaries, each signed by from
fifteen to forty men. At all these evening meetings the
XXX CHRISTIANITY IN PHYONG-YANG 161
room was crammed within and without by men, reverent
and earnest in manner, some of whom had been shunned
for their wickedness even in a city " the smoke of which "
in her palmy days was said "to go up like the smoke of
Sodom," but who, transformed by a power outside them-
selves, were then leading exemplary lives. There were
groups in the dark, groups round the candles on the floor,
groups in the doorways, and every face was aglow except
that of poor, bewildered Im. One old man, with his
forehead in the dust, prayed like a child that, as the
letter bearing to New York an earnest request for more
teachers was on its way, " the wind and sea might waft
it favourably," and that when it was read the eyes of the
foreigners^ might be opened " to see the sore need of people
in a land where no one knows anything, and where all
believe in devils, and are dying in the dark."
As I looked upon those lighted faces, wearing an
expression strongly contrasting with the dull, dazed look
of apathy which is characteristic of the Korean, it was
impossible not to recognise that it was the teaching of the
Apostolic doctrines of sin, judgment to come, and divine
love which had brought about such results, all the
more remarkable because, according to the missionaries,
a large majority of those who had renounced daemon-
worship, and were living in the fear of the true God, had
been attracted to Christianity in the first instance by
the hope of gain! This, and almost unvarying testi-
mony to the same effect, confirm me in the opinion that
when people talk of "nations craving for the Gospel,"
"stretching out pleading hands for it," or "athirst for
^ The American Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.
VOL,n M
164 CHBISTIAN MISSIONS chap.
chiefly composed of women and children, stood round the
fence, the children imbibing devilry from their infancy.
I was not at a regular inn in Phyong-yang but at a
broker's house, with a yard to myself nominally, but
which was by no means private. Im generally, and not
roughly, requested the people to " move on," but he made
two exceptions, one being in favour of a madwoman of
superior appearance and apparel who haunted me on my
second visit, hanging about the open front of my room, and
following me to the mission-house and elsewhere. She
said that I was her grandmother and that she must go
with me everywhere, and, like many mad people, she had
an important and mysterious communication to make
which for obvious reasons never reached me. She was the
concubine of a late governor of the city, and not having
escaped before its capture, went mad from horror at seeing
the Chinese spitted on the bayonets of the Japanese. She
carried a long bodkin, and went through distressing
pantomimes of running people through with it !
The other exception was in favour of gesaing, upon
whose presence Im looked qidte approvingly, and
evidently thought I did.
Phyong-yang has always been famous for the beauty
and accomplishments of its gesang, singing and dancing
girls, resembling in many respects the geish'Os of Japan, but
correctly speaking they mostly belong to the Gk)vemment,
and are supported by the Korean Treasury. At the time of
my two first sojourns in Seoul, about seventy of them were
attached to the Boyal Palace. They were under the
control of the same Government department as that with
which the official musicians are connected.
XXX KOREAN GESANO 166
As a poor man gifted with many sons, for whom he
cannot provide, sometimes presents one to the government
as a eunuch, so he may give a girl to be a gesayu/. The
gesang are trained from a very early age in such accom-
plishments as other Korean women lack, and which will
ensure their attractiveness, such as playing on various
musical instruments, singing, dancing, reading, reciting,
writing, and fancy work. As their destiny is to make
time pass agreeably for men of the upper classes, this
amount of education is essential, though a Korean does
not care how blank and undeveloped the mind of his wife
is. The gesang are always elegantly dressed, as they were
when they came to see me, even through the mud of
the Phyong-yang streets, and as they have not known
seclusion, their manners with both sexes have a graceful
ease. Their dancing, like that pf most Oriental countries,
consists chiefly of posturing, and is said by those foreigners
who have seen it to be perfectly free from impropriety.
Dr. Allen, Secretary to the U.S. Legation at Seoul, in
a paper in the Korean Repository for 1886, describes
among the dances which speciaUy interest foreigners at
the entertainments at the Boyal Palace one known as the
" Lotus Dance." In this, he writes, " A tub is brought in
containing a large lotus flower just ready to burst open.
Two imitation storks then come in, each one being a man
very cleverly disguised. These birds flap their wings,
snap their beaks, and dance round in admiration of
the beautiful bud which they evidently intend to pluck
as soon as they have enjoyed it sufl&ciently in anticipation.
Their movements all this time are very graceful, and they
come closer and closer to the flower keeping time to the
166 CHBISTIAN MISSIONS ohap.
soft music. At last the proper times arrives, the flower
is plucked, when, as the pink petals fall back, out steps a
little gesaTig to the evident amazement of the birds, and to
the intense delight of the younger spectators."
The Sword and Dragon dances are also extremely
popular, and on great occasions the performance is never
complete without " Throwing the Ball," which consists in
a series of graceful arm movements before a painted arch,
after which the gemng march in procession before the Eling,
and the successful dancers receive presents.
Though the most beautiful and attractive gesang
come from Phyong-yang, they are found throughout the
country. From the King down to the lowest official who
can afford the luxury, the presence of gesang is regarded
at every entertainment as indispensable to the enjoyment
of the guests. They appear at official dinners at the
Foreign Office, and at the palace are the chief entertainers,,
and sing and dance at the many parties which are given
by Koreans at the picnic resorts near Seoul, and though
attached to the prefectures, and various other departments,
may be hired by gentlemen to give fascination to their
feasts.
Their training and non- secluded position place them,
however, outside of the reputable classes, and though in
Japan geishas often become the wives of nobles and even
of statesmen, no Korean man would dream of raising a
gesang to such a position.
Dr. Allen, who has had special opportunities of becom-
ing acquainted with the inner social life of Korea, says
that they are the source of much heart-burning to the
legal but neglected wife, who in no case is the wife of her
XXX THE SWALLOW KIN€PS REWARDS 167
husband's choice, and that Korean folklore abounds with
stories of discord arising in families from attachments to
gesang, and of ardent and prolonged devotion on the part
of young noblemen to these girls, whom they are prevented
from marrying by rigid custom. There is a Korean
tale called The Sioallow King's Rewards in which a
man is visited with the "ten plagues of Korea" for
maltreating a wounded swallow, and in it gesang are
represented along with mu-tang as " among the ten curses
of the land."
Dr. Allen, to whom I owe this fact, writes, " Doubtless
they are so considered by many a lonely wife, as well as
by the fathers who mourn to see their sons wasting their
substance in riotous living, as they doubtless did them-
selves when they were young."
The house in which I had quarters was much resorted
to by merchants for whom my host transacted brokerage
business, and entertainments were the order of the day.
Mr. Yi was mvited to dinner daily, and on the last
evening entertained all who had invited him. Such meals
cost per head as much as a dinner at the St. James's
Eestaurant! Noise seems essential to these gatherings.
The men shout at the top of their voices.
There is an enormous amount of visiting and entertain-
ing among men in the cities. Some public men keep open
house, giving their servants as much as S60 a day for
the entertainment of guests. Men who are in easy
circumstances go continually from one house to another to
kill time. They never talk politics, it is too dangerous,
but retail the latest gossip of the court or city and the
witticisms attributed to great men, and tell, hear, and
168 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS chap.
invent news. The front rooms of houses in which the
men live are open freely to all comers. In some circles,
though it is said to a far less extent than formerly, men
meet and talk over what we should call ''questions of
literary criticism," compare poetic compositions, the
ability to compose a page of poetry being the grand
result of Korean education, and discuss the meaning
of celebrated works — all literature being in Chinese.
The common people meet in the streets, the house
fronts, and the inns. They ask each other endless ques-
tions, of a nature that we should think most impertinent,
regarding each other's business, work, and money trans-
actions, and for the latest news. It is every man's
business to hear or create all the news he can. What he
hears he embellishes by lies and exaggerations. Korea
is the country of wild rumours. What a Korean knows,
or rather hears, he tells. According to P^re Dallet, he
does not know the meaning of reserve, though he is utterly
devoid of frankness. Men live in company in each other's
houses. Domestic life is unknown. The women in the
inner rooms receive female visitors, and the girl children
are present. The boys at a very early age are removed to
the men's apartments, where they learn from the conversa-
tion they hear that every man who respects himself must
regard women with contempt.
We left Phyong-yang for Po-san in a very small boat
in which six people and their luggage were uncomfortably
packed and cramped. One of the two boatmen was liter-
ally "down with fever," but with one and the strong
ebb-tide we accomplished 20 miles in six hours, and were
well pleased to find the Hariong lying at anchor, as we had
XXX HISTORICAL JOTTINGS 169
not been able to get any definite information concerning her,
and I never believed in her till I saw her. The Tai-dong
has some historic interest, for up its broad waters sailed
Ki-ja or Kit-ze with his army of 5000 men on the way to
found Phyong-yang and Korean civilisation, and down it
fled Ki-jun, the last king of the first dynasty, from the
forces of Wei-man descending from the north. Phyong-
yang impressed me as it did Consul Carles with its natural
suitability for commerce, and this Tai-dong, navigable up
to the city for small junks, is the natural outlet for beans
and cotton, some of which find their way to Newchwang
for shipment, for the rich iron ore which lies close to the
river-banks at Kai-chhon, for the gold of Keum San only
20 miles off, for the abounding coal of the immediate
neighbourhood, for the hides, which are now carried on
men's backs to Chemulpo, and for the products of what is
said to be a considerable silk industry.
In going down the river something is seen of the
original size of Phyong-yang, for the " earth wall " on solid
masonry, built, it is said, by Eit-ze 3000 years ago, follows
the right bank of the Tai-dong for about four miles before
it turns away to the north, to terminate at the foot of the
hill on which is the reputed grave of its builder. This
extends in that direction possibly three miles beyond the
present wall.
The plain through which the river runs is fertile and
well cultivated, though the shining mud flats at low tide
are anything but prepossessing. Various rivers, enabling
boats of light draught to penetrate the country, most of them
rising in the picturesque mountain ranges which descend
on the plain, specially on its western side, join the Tai-dong.
170 THE TRANSPORT H AMONG chap
Much had been said of the Hariong. I was told I
" should be all right if I could get the Hariong I* that " the
Rariong's a most comfortable little boat — she has ten
state-rooms," and as we approached her in the mist, very
wet, and stiff from the length of time spent in a cramped
position, I conjured up visions of comfort and even luxury
which were not to be realised.
She was surrounded by Japanese junks, Japanese
soldiers crowded her gangways, and Japanese ofl&cers were
directing the loading. We hooked on to the junks and
lay in the rain for an hour, nobody taking the slightest
notice of us. Mr. Yi then scrambled on board and there
was another half-hour's delay, which took us into the early
darkness. He reappeared, saying there was no cabin and we
must go on shore. But there was no place to sleep on shore
and it was the last steamer, so I climbed on board and Im
hurried in the baggage. It was raining and blowing, and
we were huddled on the wet deck like steerage passengers,
Japanese soldiers and commissariat of&cers there, as else-
where in Korea, masters of the situation. Mr. Ti was
frantic that he, a Government ofi&cial, and one from whom
"the Japanese had to ask a hundred favours a month,"
should be treated with such indignity! The vessel was
hired by the Japanese commissariat department to go to
Nagasaki, calling at Chemulpo, and we were really, though
unintentionally, interlopers !
There was truly no room for me, and the arrangement
whereby I received shelter was essentially Japanese. I
lived in a minute saloon with the commissariat ofScers,
and fed precariously, Im dealing out to me, at long intervals,
the remains of a curry which he had had the forethought
AN ASIATIC TRANSPORT
171
to bring. There was a Korean purser, but the poor dazed
fellow was "nowhere," being totally superseded by a brisk
young mannikin who, in the intervals of business, came to
me, note-book in hand, that I might hel^ him to enlarge
his English vocabulary. The only sign of vitality that the
limp, displaced purser showed was to exclaim with energy
more than once, " I hate these Japanese, they've taken our
own ships."
Fortunately the sea was quite still, and the weather
was dry and fine ; even Ton-yiing Pa-da, a disagreeable
stretch of ocean off the Whang Hal coast, was quiet, the
halt of nearly a day off the new treaty port of Chin-nam-po
where the mud fiats extend far out from the shore, was
not disagreeable, and we reached the familiar harbour
of Chemulpo by a glorious sunset on the frosty evening
of the third day from Po-san, the voyage in a small
Asiatic transport having turned out better than could
have been expected.
1
5eoul to —
Ko-yang .
Pa Ju .
[TINKKATt
• •
Y
Li.
. 40
40
0-mok
40
Ohur-chuk Kio
30
Song-do
O-hung-suk Ju
Kun-ko Eai
10
. 30
. 30
Tol Maru
35
An-shung-pa Pal
Shur-hung
Hung-shou Wan
Pong-san .
25
30
30
40
Whang Ju
Kur-monn Tari
Chi-dol-pa Pal .
Phyong-yanf;
Mori-ko Kai
Liang-yang Chang
Cba-san .
Sliou-yang Yi
Ha-kai Oil
Ka Chang
Hu-ok Kuri
Tok Chhbn
Shiir-chong
An-kil Yung
ShU-yi .
Mou-chio Tai
Sun Chhon
Cha-san .
Siang-yang Chhou
An-chin Miriok
Phyong-yang
Total land jouraey
CHAPTEE XXXI
THE ** top-knot" — THE KOREAN HEGIRA
The year 1896 opened for Korea in a gloom as profound
as that in which the previous year had closed. There
were small insurrections in all quarters, various ofi&cials
were killed, and some of the rebels threatened to march
on the capital. Japanese influence declined, Japanese
troops were gradually withdrawn from the posts they had
occupied, the engagements of many of the Japanese ad-
visers and controllers in departments expired and were not
renewed, some of the reforms instituted by Japan during
the period of her ascendency died a natural death, there
was a distinctly retrograde movement, and government
was disintegrating all over the land.
The general agitation in the country and several of the
more serious of the outbreaks had a cause which, while to
our thinking it is ludicrous, shows as much as anything
else the intense conservatism of pung-hok or custom which
prevails among the Koreans. The cause was an attack
on the " Top-Knot " by a Eoyal Edict on 30th December
1895 ! This set the country aflame ! The Koreans, who
had borne on the whole quietly the ascendency of a hated
176 THE " TOP-KNOT "—THE KOREAN HEGIRA chap.
boy rises up a man.^ The new man bows to each of his
relations in regular order, beginning with his grandfather,
kneelmg and placing his hands, pahns downward, on the
floor, and resting his forehead for a moment upon them.
He then ofifers sacrifices to his deceased ancestors
before the ancestral tablets, lighted candles in high brass
candlesticks being placed on each side of the bowls of
sacrificial food or fruit, and, bowing profoundly, acquaints
them with the important fact that he has assumed the
Top-Knot. Afterwards he calls on the adult male friends
of his family, who for the first time receive him as an
equal, and at night there is a feast in his honour in his
father's house, to which all the family friends who have
attained to the dignity of Top-Knots are invited.
The hat is made of fine "crinoline" so that the Top-
Knot may be seen very plainly through it, and weighs only
an ounce and a half It is a source of ceaseless anxiety
to the Korean. If it gets wet it is ruined, so that he
seldom ventures to stir abroad without a waterproof cover
for it in his capacious sleeve, and it is so easily broken and
crushed, that when not in use it must be kept or carried
in a wooden box, usually much decorated, as obnoxious in
transit as a lady's band-box. The keeping on the hat is a
mark of respect. Court of&cials appear in the sovereign's
presence with their hats on, and the Korean only takes it
off in the company of his most intimate friends. The
mang-kun is a fixture. The Top-Knot is often decorated
with a bead of jade, amber, or turquoise, and some of the
young swells wear expensive tortoise-shell combs as its
^ In chapter ix. p. 129, there is a short notice of what is inTolred
in the traniformation.
XXXI THE TOP-KNOT EDICTS 177
ornaments. There is no other single article of male
equipment that I am aware of which plays so important
a part, or is regarded with such reverence, or is clung to
so tenaciously, as the Korean Top-Knot.
On an " institution " so venerated and time-honoured,
and so bound up with Korean nationality (for the Korean,
though remarkably destitute of true patriotism, has a
strongly national instinct), the decree of the 30th of
December 1895, practically abolishing the Top-Knot, fell
like a thunderbolt. The measure had been advocated
before, chiefly by Koreans who had been in America, and
was known to have Japanese support, and had been dis-
cussed by the Cabinet, but the change was regarded with
such disgust by the nation at large that the Government
was afraid to enforce it. Only a short time before the
decree was issued, three chief ofl&cers of the Kun-ren-tai
entered the Council Chamber with drawn swords, demand-
ing the instantaneous issue of an edict making it com-
pulsory on every man in Government employment to have
his hair cropped, and the Ministers, terrified for their lives,
all yielded but one, and he succeeded for the time in
getting the issue of it delayed till after the Queen's funeraL
Very shortly afterwards, however, the King, practically a
prisoner, was compelled to endorse it, and he, the Crown
Prince, the Tai-Won-Kun, and the Cabinet were divested
of their Top-Knots, the soldiers and police following suit.
The following day the Offi/iial Gazette promulgated adecree,
endorsed by the King, announcing that he had cut his hair
short, and calling on all his subjects, of&cials and common
people alike, to follow his example and identify themselves
with the spirit of progress which had induced His Majesty
VOL. II N
178 THE "TOP-KNOT"— THE KOREAN HEOIBA chap.
to take this step, and thus place his countiy on a footing
of equality with the other nations of the world !
The Home Office notifications were as follows : —
Tratulation
The present cropping of the hair being a meaBore both advan-
tageons to the preservation of health and convenient for the tiana-
action of business, our sacred Lord the Kin^ having in view both
aflministrative reform and national aggrandisement, has, by taking
the lead in his own person, set ns an example. All the mbjeets of
Great Korea should respectfully conform to His Miyesty's purpose,
and the fashion of their clothing should be as set forth below : —
1. During national mourning the hat and clothing should, until
the expiration of the term of mourning, be white in colour as before.
2. The fillet {mcmg-hm) should be abandoned.
3. There is no objection to the adoption of foreign clothing.
(Signed) Yu-kil Chun,
Acting Home Miwider.
11th moon, 15th day.
No. 2
In the Proclamation which His Majesty graciously issued to-day
(11th moon, 16th day) are words, "We, in cutting Our hair, are
setting an example to Our subjects. Do you, the multitude,
identify yourselves with Our design, and cause to be accomplished
the great work of establishing equality with the nations of the
earth."
At a time of reform such as this, when we humbly peruse so
spirited a proclamation, among all of us subjects of Qreat Korea
who does not weep for gratitude, and strive his utmost) Earnestly
united in heart and mind, we earnestly expect a humble conformity
with His Majesty's purposes of reformation.
(Signed) Yu-kil Chun,
Acting Home MiniUer.
504th year since the founding of the Dynasty,
11th moon, 15 th day.
XXXI TOP-KNOT RIOTS 179
Among the reasons which rendered the Top -Knot
decree detestable to the people were, that priests and
monks, who, instead of being held in esteem, are regarded
generally as a nuisance to be tolerated, wear their hair closely
cropped, and the Edict was believed to be an attempt in-
stigated by Japan to compel Koreans to look like Japanese,
and adopt Japanese customs. So strong was the popular
belief that it was to Japan that Korea owed the denation-
alising order, that in the many places where there were
Top-Knot Eiots it was evidenced by overt acts of hostility
to the Japanese, frequently resulting in murder.
The rural districts were convulsed. Ofl&cials even of
the highest rank found themselves on the horns of a
dilemma. If they cut their hair, they were driven from
their lucrative posts by an infuriated populace, and in
several instances lost their lives, while if they retained
the Top-Knot they were dismissed by the Cabinet. In one
province, on the arrival from Seoul of a newly-appointed
mandarin with cropped hair, he was met by a great con-
course of people ready for the worst, who informed him
that they had hitherto been ruled by a Korean man, and
would not endure a "Monk Magistrate," on which he
prudently retired to the capital
All through the land there were Top-Knot complexities
and difficulties. Countrymen, merchants. Christian cate-
chists, and others, who had come to Seoul on business, and
had been shorn, dared not risk their lives by returning to
their homes. Wood and country produce did not come
in, and the price of the necessaries of life rose seriously.
Many men who prized the honour of entering the Palace
gates at the New Year feigned illness, but were sent for
180 THE « TOP-KNOT "—THE KOREAN HEGIRA chap.
and denuded of their hair. The click of the shears was
heard at every gate in Seoul, at the Palace, and at the
official residences ; even servants were not exempted, and
some of the Foreign Representatives were unable to
present themselves at the Palace on New Year's Day,
because their chairmen were unwilling to meet the shears.
A father poisoned himself from grief and humiliation
because his two sons had submitted to the decree.
The foundations of social order were threatened when the
Top-Knot fell !
People who had had their hair cropped did not dare to
venture far from Seoul lest they should be exposed to the
violence of the rural population. At Chun Ghhon, 50
miles from the capital, when the Governor tried to en-
force the ordinance, the people rose en masse and murdered
him and his whole establishment, afterwards taking pos-
session of the town and surrounding country. As police-
men with their shears were at the Seoul gates to enforce
the decree on incomers, and peasants who had been cropped
on arriving did not dare to return to their homes, prices
rose so seriously by the middle of January 1896, that
" trouble " in the capital was expected, and another order
was issued that " country folk were to be let alone at that
time."
Things went from bad to worse, till on the 11th of
February 1896 the whole Far East was electrified by a
sensational telegram — "The King of Korea has escaped
from his Palace, and is at the Eussian Legation."
On that morning the King and Crown Prince in the
dim daybreak left the Kyeng-pok Palace in closed box
chairs, such as are used by the Palace waiting-women^
XXXI A ROYAL PROCLAMATION 181
passed through the gates without being suspected by the
sentries, and reached the Eussian Legation, the King pale
and trembling as he entered the spacious suite of apart-
ments which for more than a year afterwards offered him
a secure asylum. The Palace ladies who arranged the
escape had kept their counsel well, and had caused a
number of chairs to go in and out of the gates early and
late during the previous week, so that the flight failed to
attract any attention. As the King does much of his
work at night and retires to rest in the early morning, the
ever -vigilant Cabinet, his gaolers, supposed him to be
asleep, and it was not until several hours later that his
whereabouts became known, when the organisation of a
new Cabinet was progressing, and Korean dignitaries
began to be summoned into the Eoyal presence.
The King, on gaining security, at once reassumed his
long-lost prerogatives, which have never since been curbed
in the slightest degree. The irredeemable Orientalism of
the twoToUowing proclamations .hich were posted over
the city within a few hours of his escape warrants their
insertion in full : —
ROTAL PROCLAMATtON
Tramlation
Alas I alas ! on account of Our unworthiness and mal-adminis-
tration the wicked advanced and the wise retired. Of the last ten
years, none has passed without troubles. Some were brought on
by those We had trusted as the members of the body, while others,
by those of Our own bone and flesh. Our dynasty of five centuries
has thereby been often endangered, and millions of Our subjects
have thereby been gradually impoverished. These facts make Us
blush and sweat for shame. But these troubles have been brought
182 THE « TOP-KNOT ''—THE KOREAN HEGIRA chap.
about through Our partiality and self-will, giving rise to rascality
and blunders leading to calamities. All have been Our own £Biult
from the first to the last.
Fortunately, through loyal and faithful subjects rising up in
righteous efforts to remove the wicked, there is a hope that the
tribulations experienced may invigorate the State, and that calm
may return after the storm. This accords with the principle that
human nature will have freedom after a long pressure, and that
the ways of Heaven bring success after reverses. We shall en-
deavour to be merciful. No pardon, however, shall be extended to
the principal traitors concerned in the afifairs of July 1894 and
of October 1895. Capital punishment should be their due, thus
venting the indignation of men and gods alike. But to all the
rest, officials or soldiers, citizens or coolies, a general amnesty, free
and full, is granted, irrespective of the degree of their offences.
Reform your hearts ; ease your minds ; go about your business,
public or private, as in times past.
As to the cutting of the Top-Knots — what can We say 1 Is it
such an urgent matter ? The traitors, by using force and coercion,
brought about the affair. That this measure was taken against Our
will is, no doubt, well known to all. Nor is it Our vrish that the
conservative subjects throughout the country, moved to righteous
indignation, should rise up, as they have, circulating false rumours,
causing death and injury to one another, until the re^lar troops
had to be sent to suppress the disturbances by force. The traitors
indulged their poisonous nature in everything. Fingers and hairs
would fail to count their crimes. The soldiers are Our children.
So are the insurgents. Cut any of the ten fingers, and one would
cause as much pain as another. Fighting long continued would
pour out blood and heap up corpses, hindering communications
and traffic Alas ! if this continues the people will all die^ The
mere contemplation of such consequences provokes Our tears and
chills Our heart. We desire that as soon as orders arrive the
soldiers should return to Seoul and the insurgents to their respective
places and occupations.
As to the cutting of Top-Knots, no one shall be forced as to dress
and hats. Do as you please. The evils now afflicting the people
XXXI KOREAN BRUTALITIES 183
shall be duly attended to by the Qovemment This is Our own
word of honour. Let all understand.
By order of His Majesty,
(Signed) Pak-chung Yang,
Acting Home and Prime Minister,
11th day, 2nd moon, 1st year of Eon-yang.
Proclamation to the Soldibbs
On account of the unhappy fate of Our country, traitors have
made trouble every year. Now We have a document informing us
of another conspiracy. We have therefore come to the Russian
Legation. The Representatives of different countries have all
assembled.
Soldiers ! come and protect us. You are Our children. The
troubles of the past were due to the crimes of chief traitors. You
are all pardoned, and shall not be held answerable. Do your
duty and be at ease. When you meet the chief traitors, viz. Cho-
hui Yen, Wu-pom Sun, Yi-tu Hwong, Yi-pom Nai, Yi-chin Ho,
and Eon-yong Chin, cut off their heads at once, and bring them.
You (soldiers) attend us at the Russian Legation.
11th day, 2nd moon, 1st year of Eon-yang.
Royal Sign.
Following on this, on the same day, and while thousands
of people were reading the repeal of the hair-cropping
order, those of the Cabinet who could be caught were
arrested and beheaded in the street — the Prime Minister,
who had kept his place in several Cabinets, and the
Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. The mob, in-
furiated, and r^arding the Premier as the author of the
downfall of the Top-Knot, gave itself up to unmitigated
savagery, insulting and mutilating the dead bodies in a
manner absolutely fiendish. Another of the Cabinet was
rescued by Japanese soldiers, and the other traitorous
members ran away. A Cabinet, chiefly new, was installed,
184 THE « TOP-KNOT "—THE KOREAN HEGIRA chap.
prison doors were opened, and the inmates, guilty and
innocent alike, were released, strict orders were given by
the King that the Japanese were to be protected, one
having already fallen a victim to the fury of the populace,
and before night fell on Seoul much of the work of the
previous six months had been undone, and the Top-Knot
had triumphed.^
How the Korean King, freed from the strong influence
of the Queen and the brutal control of his mutinous
officers, used his freedom need not be told here. It was
supposed just after his escape that he would become " a
mere tool in the hands of the Eussian Minister," but so
far was this from being the case, that before a year had
passed it was greatly desired by many that Mr. Waeber
would influence him against the bad in statecraft and in
favour of the good, and the cause of his determination
not to bias the King in any way remains a mystery to
this day.
The roads which led to the Eussian Legation were
guarded by Korean soldiers, but eighty Eussian marines
were quartered in the compound and held the gates, while
a small piece of artillery was very much en Evidence on the
terrace below the King's windows ! He had an abundant
entourage. For some months the Cabinet occupied the
ball-room, and on the terrace and round the King's apart-
ments there were always numbers of Court officials and
servants of all grades, eunuchs, Palace women, etc., while
the favourites, the ladies Om and Pak, who assisted in his
escape, were constantly to be seen in his vicinity.
^ When I last saw the King this national adornment seemed to have
resumed its former proportions.
XXXI THE QUEEN'S REMAINS 186
Eevelling in the cheerfulness and security of his
surroundings, the King shortly built a Palace (to which he
removed in the spring of 1897), surrounding the tablet-
house of the Queen, and actually in Chong-dong, the
European quarter, its grounds adjoining those of the
English and U.S. Legations. To the security of this
tablet-house the remains of the Queen, supposed to
consist only of the bones of one finger, were removed
on a lucky day chosen by the astrologers with much
pomp.
On this occasion a guard of eighty Eussian soldiers occu-
pied a position close to the Boyal tent, not far from one in
which the Foreign Eepresentatives, with the noteworthy
exception of the Japanese Envoy, were assembled.
Eolled-up scroll portraits of the five immediate ancestors
of the King, each enclosed in a large oblong palanquin
of gilded fretwork, and preceded by a crowd of ofl5cials
in old Court costume, filed past the Eoyal tent, where
the King did obeisance, and the Eussian Guard pre-
sented arms. This was only the first part of the
ceremony.
Later a colossal catafalque, containing the fragmentary
remains of the murdered Queen, was dragged through
the streets from the Kyeng-pok Palace by 700 men in
sackcloth, preceded and followed by a crowd of Court
functionaries, also in mourning, and escorted by Korean
drilled troops. The King and Crown Prince received the
procession at the gate of the new Kyeng-wun Palace, and
the hearse, after being hauled up to the end of a long
platform outside the Spirit Shrine, was tracked by ropes
(for no hand might touch it) to the interior, where it rested
186 THE « TOP-KNOT "—THE KOREAN HEGIRA chap.
under a canopy of white silk, and for more than a year
received the customary rites and sacrifices from the
bereaved husband and son. The large crowd in the streets
was orderly and silent. The ceremony was remarkable
both for the revival of picturesque detail and of practices
which it was supposed had become obsolete, such as the
supporting of officials on their ponies by retainers, or when
on foot by having their arms propped up. ^
In July 1896, Mr. J. M'Leavy Brown, LL.D., Chief
Commissioner of Customs, received by Eoyal decree the
absolute control of all payments out of the Treasury,
and having gained considerable insight into the com-
plexities of financial corruption, addressed hunself in
earnest to the reform of abuses, and with most beneficial
results.
In September a Council of State of fourteen members
was substituted for the Cabinet of Ministers organised
imder Japanese auspices, a change which was to some
extent a return to old methods.
Many of the attempts made by the Japanese during their
ascendency to reform abuses were allowed to lapse. The
country was unsettled, a "Eighteous Army" having re-
placed the Tong-haks. The Minister of the Household
and other Eoyal favourites resumed the practice of selling
provincial and other posts in a most unblushing manner
after the slight checks which had been imposed on this
most deleterious custom, and the sovereign himself, whose
Civil List is ample, appropriated public moneys for his own
purposes, while, finding himself personally safe, and free
from Japanese or other control, he reverted in many ways
to the traditions of his dynasty, and in spite of attempted
XXXI JAPAN AND RUSSIA 187
checks upon his authority, reigned as an absolute monarch
— his edicts law, his will absolute. Meanwhile Japan was
gradually eifacing herself or being efifaced, and whatever
influence she lost in Korea, Russia gained, but the
advantages of the change were not obvious.
CHAPTEE XXXII
THE REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT^
The old system of Government in Korea, which, with but
a few alterations and additions, prevailed from the founding
of the present dynasty until the second half of 1894, was
modelled on that of the Ming Emperors of China. The
King was absolute as well in practice as in theory, but to
assist him in governing there was a Eui-chyeng Pu,
commonly translated Cabinet, composed of a so-called
Premier, and Senior and Junior Ministers of State, under
whom were Senior and Junior Chief Secretaries, and Senior
and Junior Assistant Secretaries, with certain minor func-
tionaries, the Govemmtot being conducted through Boards
as in China, viz. Civil Office, Eevenue, Ceremonies, War,
Punishment, and Works, to which were added, after the
opening of the country to foreigners. Foreign and Home
^ The chapters on the Reorganised Korean Government — Education,
Trade, and Finance — and Dsemonism are intended to aid in the intelligent
understanding of those which precede them. The reader who wishes
to go into the subject of the old and the reorganised systems of Korean
Government will find a mass of curious and deeply-interesting detaU in a
volume entitled Korean Oovemment, by W. H. Wilkinson, Esq., lately
H.6.M.'s Acting Vice-Consul at Chemulpo, published by the Statistical
Department of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs at Shanghai in
March 1897. To it I am rery greatly indebted.
CHAP. XXXII OFFICIAL ABUSES 189
Offices. During the present reign the Home Office, under the
Presidency of a powerful and ambitious cousin of the Queen,
Min Yeng-chyun, began to draw to itself all administrative
power, while Her Majesty's and his relations, who occupied
the chief positions throughout the country, fleeced the people
without restraint. Of the remaining offices which were
seated in the Metropolis the chief were the Correctional
Tribunal, an office of the first rank which took cognisance
of the offences of officials, and the Prefecture of Seoul
which had charge of all municipal matters.
Korea was divided into eight Provinces, each under
the control of a Governor, aided by a Civil and Military
Secretary. Magistrates of different grades according to the
size of the magistracies were appointed under him, five
fortress cities, however, being independent of provincial
jurisdiction. The principal tax, the land-tax, was paid in
kind, and the local governments had very considerable
control over the local revenues. There were provincial
military and naval forces with large staffs of officers, and
Boards, Offices, and Departments innumerable under
Government, each with its legion of supernumeraries.
The country was eaten up by officialism. It is not only
that abuses without number prevailed, but the whole system
of Government was an abuse, a sea of corruption without
a bottom or a shore, an engine of robbery, crushing the
life out of all industry. Offices and justice were bought
and sold like other commodities, and Government was fast
decaying, the one principle which survived being its right
to prey on the governed.
The new order of things, called by the Japanese the " Ee-
formation," dates from the forcible occupation of the Kyeng-
190 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT ohap.
pok Palace by Japanese troops on the 23rd of July 1894.
The constitutional changes which have subsequently been
promulgated (though not always carried out) were initiated
by the Japanese Minister in Seoul, and reduced to detail
by the Japanese "advisers" who shortly arrived; and
Japan is entitled to the credit of having attempted to
cope with and remedy the manifold abuses of the Korean
system, and of having bequeathed to the country the lines
on which reforms are now being carried out. It was
natural, and is certainly not blameworthy, that the
Japanese had in view the assimilation of Korean polity to
that of Japan.
To bring about the desired reorganisation, Mr. Otori, ut
that time the Japanese Minister, induced the King to
create an Assembly, which, whatever its ultimate destiny,
was to.form meanwhile a Department for ''the discussion
of all matters grave and trivial within the realm." The
Prime Minister was its President, and the number of its
members was limited to twenty Councillors. A noteworthy
feature in connection with it was that it invited suggestions
from outsiders in the form of written memoranda.
It met for the first time on the 30th of July 1894, and for
the last on the 29th of October of thesame year. It wasfound
impossible, either by payment or Eoyal orders, to secure a
quorum ; and after the Vice-Minister of Justice, one of the
few Councillors who took an active part in the proceedings,
was murdered two days after the last meeting, as was
believed, by an agent of the reactionary party, it practically
expired, and was dissolved by Boyal Decree on the 17th of
December 1894, and a reconstituted Privy Council took its
place. Those of its Sesolutions however, which had
xxxn THE OFFICIAL GAZETTE 191
received the Eoyal assent became law, and unless repealed
or superseded are still binding.
These Eesolutions appeared in the Government Gazette,
an institution of very old standing, imitated, like most
things else, from China. This was prepared by the Court
of Transmission, a Palace Department, the senior members
of which formed the channel of commimication between
the King and the oflBcial body at large, and who, while
other high oflBcials could only reach the throne by means
of personal memorials or written memoranda, were privi-
leged to address the King viva voce, and through whom as
a rule his commands were issued. Each dajr this Depart-
ment collected the various memoranda and memorials, the
Boyal replies and the lists of appointments, copies of which
when edited by it formed the Gazette, which was famished
in MS. to oflBcials throughout the kingdom. The Eoyal
Edicts when published in this paper became law in Korea.
In July 1894 Mr. Otori made the useful innovation of
publishing the Gazette in clear type, and in the following
January it appeared in a mixture of Chinese hieroglyphs
and En-mun, the " vulgar script " of Korea, and became
intelligible to the common people. No special change
was made at that time, except that the Eesolutions of
the Deliberative Assembly were included in it. Later
changes have assimilated it farther to the Government
Gazette of Japan, and it has gained rather than lost in
importance. Gradually a diminution of the power of the
Court of Transmission began to show itself. Its name
was changed to the Eeceiving Oflfice, and members of the
Cabinet and the Correctional Tribunal began to enjoy
direct access to the King. In April 1895 a farther
192 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap.
change in a Japanese direction, and one of great signifi-
cance in Korean estimation, was made, the date of the
Gazette being given thus : —
" No. 1. — 504th year of the Dynasty, 4th moon, 1st day.
Wood-day." ^
Two months later farther changes in the official Gazette
were annoimced, and the programme then put forward
has been adhered to, paving the way for many of the
changes which have followed. It is difficult to make the
importance of the Gazette intelligible, except to foreigners
who have resided in China and Korea. The reason for
dwelling so long upon it is, that for several centuries the
publication in it of Eoyal Edicts has given them the force
of law and the currency of Acts of Parliament.
In the pages which foUow a brief summary is given of
the outlines of the scheme for the reorganisation of the
Korean Grovemment, which was prepared for the most
part by the Japanese advisers, honorary and salaried, who
have been engaged on the task since 1894, and which has
been accepted by the King.
The first change raised the status of the King and the
Soyal Family to that of the Imperial Family of China.
After this, it was enacted, following on the King's Oath of
January 1895, that the Queen and Royal Family were no
longer to interfere in the affairs of State, and that His
Majesty would govern by the advice of a Cabinet, and
sign all ordinances to which his assent is given. The
Cabinet, which was, at least nominally, located in the
^ Wood-day is the term adopted by the Japanese for Thursday, their
week, which has now been imposed on the Koreans, being Sun-day,
Moon-day, Fire-day, Water-day, Woml-day, Metal-day, and Earth-day.
XXXII THE COUNCIL OF STATE 193
Palace, had two aspects — a Council of State, and a State
Department, presided over by the Premier.
As THE Council of State
The members of the Cabinet or Ministers of State were
the Premier, the Home Minister, the Minister for Foreign
Afifaira, the Finance Minister, the War Minister, the
Minister of Education, the Minister of Justice, and the
Minister of Agriculture, Trade, and Industry. A Foreign
Adviser is supposed to be attached to each of the seven
Departments.
Ministers in Council were empowered to consider — the
framing of laws and ordinances ; estimates and balance-
sheets of yearly revenue and expenditure; public debt,
domestic and foreign ; international treaties and important
conventions; disputes as to the respective jurisdictions of
Ministers ; such personal memorials as His Majesty might
send down to them; supplies not included in the esti-
mates; appointments and promotions of high officials,
other than legal or military ; the retention, abolition, or
alteration of old customs; abolition or institution of
offices, and, without reference to their special relations to
any one Ministry, their reconstruction or amendment;
the imposition of new taxes or their alteration; and
the control and management of public lands, forests,
buildings, and vessels. All ordinances after being signed
and sealed by the King required the countersign of the
Premier.
The second function of the Cabinet as a Department of
State it is needless to go into.
A Privy Council was established at the close of 1894
VOL. II
194 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap.
to take the place of the Deliberative Assembly which had
collapsed, and is now empowered^ when consulted by
the Cabinet, to inquire into and pass resolutions con-
cerning —
I. The framing of laws and ordinances.
II. Questions which may from time to time be referred
to it by the Cabinet.
The Council consists of a President, Vice-President,
not more than fifty Councillors, two Secretaries, and four
Clerks. The Councillors are appointed by the Crown on
the recommendation of the Premier, and must either be
men of rank, or those who have done good service to the
State, or are experts in politics, law, or economica The
Privy Council is prohibited from having any correspond-
ence on public matters with private individuals, or with
any oflBcials but Ministers and Vice -Ministers. The
President presides. Two-thirds of the members must be
present to form a quorum. Votes are given openly,
resolutions are carried by a majority, and any Councillor
dissenting from a resolution so carried has a right to have
his reasons recorded in the minutes.
In the autumn of 1896 some important changes were
made. A Decree of the 24th of September condenmed in
strong language the action of " disorderly rebels, who some
three years ago revolutionised the Constitution," and
changed the name of the King's advising body. The decree
ordained that the old name, translated Council of State,
"should be restored, and declared that new regulations
would be issued, which, while adhering to ancient prin-
ciples, would confirm such of the enactments of the
previous three years as in the King's judgment were for
XXXII RETROGRESSION 195
the public good." The Council of State was organised by
the first ordinance of a new series, and the preamble, as
well as one at least of the sections, marks a distinctly
retrograde movement and a reversion to the absolutism
renounced in the King's Oath of Janucuy 1895.* It is dis-
tinctly stated that '' any motion debated at the Council
may receive His Majesty's assent, without regard to the
number of votes in its favour, by virtue of the Boyal
prerogative; or, should the debates on any motion not
accord with His Majesty's views, the Council may be
commanded to reconsider the matter." Resolutions which
the King approves, on publication in the Gazette, become
law.
Thus perished the checks which the Japanese sought
to impose on the absolutism of the Crown, and at the
present time the Eoyal will (or whim) can and does over-
ride all else.
This Evi-chyeng Pu or Council, like the Nai Kak, its
predecessor, is both a Council of State and a State Depart-
ment presided over by the Chancellor. The members of
the Coimcil of State are the Chancellor, the Home Minister,
who is, ex officio, Vice-Chancellor, the Ministers of Fore^
Affairs, Finance, War, Justice, and Agriculture, five Coun-
cillors, and the Chief Secretary. As a State Department
under the Chancellor, the staff consists of the " Director of
the General Bureau," the Chancellor's Private Secretary,
the Secretary, and eight clerks.
The Council of State, as now constituted, is empowered
to pass resolutions concerning the enactment, abrogation
alteration, or interpretation of laws or regulations ; peace
^ See p. 35.
196 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap.
and war and the making of treaties; restoration of
domestic order; tel^raphs, railways, mines, and other
undertakings, and questions of compensation arising there-
from; the estimates and special appropriations; taxes,
duties, and excise ; matters sent down to the Council by
special command of the Sovereign; publication of laws
and regulations approved by the King.
The King, if he so pleases, is present in person, or may
send the Heir- Apparent to represent him. The Chancellor
presides, two -thirds of the members form a quorum,
motions are carried by a numerical majority, and finally
a memorial stating in outline the debate and its issue is
submitted by the Chancellor to the King, who issues such
commands as may seem to him best, for, as previously
stated. His Majesty is not bound to acquiesce in the
decision of the majority.
The Euir-chyeng Pz^ as a Department of State through
the *' Director of the General Bureau ** has three sections —
Archives, Grazette, and Accounts — and is rather a recording
than an initiating offica
The scheme for the reconstruction of the Provincial
and Metropolitan Gtovemments has introduced many im-
portant changes and retrenchments. The thirteen Provinces
are now divided into 339 Prefectures, Seoul having a
Government of its own. The vast entav/rage of provincial
authorities has been reduced, and a Provincial Grovemor's
sta£f is now limited, nominally at least, to six olerks, two
chief constables, thirty police, ten writers, four ushers,
fifteen messengers, eight ooolies,and eight boys. Ordinances
under the head of '' Local Government " define the juris-
diction, powers, duties, period of office, salaries, and
xxxii LOCAL GOVERNMENT 197
etiquette ^ of all officials, along with many minor matters.
It is in this Department that the reforms instituted by
the Japanese are the most sweeping. Very many offices
were abolished, and all Government property belonging to
the establishments of the officials holding them was ordered
to be handed over to officers of the new regime, A Local
Gk)vemment Bureau was established with sections, under
which local finance in cities and towns and local expendi-
ture of every kind were to be dealt with. An Engineer-
ing Bureau dealing with civil engineering and a Land
Survey, a Registration Bureau dealing with an annual
census of the population and the registration of lands, a
Sanitary Bureau, and an Accounts Bureau form part of
the very ambitious Local Government scheme, admirable
on paper, and which, if it were honestly carried out, would
strike at the roots of many of the abuses which are the
curse of Korea. The whole provincial system as re-
organised is under the Home Office.
An important part of the new scheme is the definition
^ Official Intercowne, Ord. 45 amends some old practices regulating
the intercourse and correspondence of officials. The etiquette of the
official call by a newly-appointed Prefect on the Governor, on the whole, is
retained, although it is in some respects simplified. The old fashion obliged
the Magistrate to remain outside the yamen gate, while a large folded
sheet of white paper inscribed with his name was sent in to the Governor.
The latter thereupon gave orders to his personal attendants or ushers to
admit the Magistrate. The Votrif as they were commonly styled, called
out ** Sa-ryerig" to which the servants chanted a reply. The Governor
being seated, the Magistrate knelt outside the room and bowed to the
ground. To this obeisance the Governor replied by raising his arms over
his head. The Magistrate was asked his name and age, given some stereo-
typed advice, and dismissed. The Governor is for the future to return the
bow of the Prefect, and conversation is to be conducted in terms of mutual
respect, the Magistrate describing himself as ^-A:oan (*' your subordinate "),
and addressing the Governor by his title.
198 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap.
of the duties and jurisdiction of the Ministers of State.
The Cabinet Orders dealing with the duties and discipline
of officials at large so far issued are^ —
Order 1. General rules for the conduct of public business.
„ 3. Memorabilia for officials.
„ 4. Resumption of office after mourning.
,, 5. Reprimand and correction.
„ 6. Obligation to purchase the Gazette,
„ 7. Memorials to be on ruled paper.
The management of public offices under the new system
is practically the same as the Japanese.
The MemoraiUia for Officials are as follows : —
{a) No official must trespass outside his own jurisdiction
(6) Where duties have been deputed to a subordinate, the latter
must not be continually interfered with.
(c) A subordinate ordered to do anything which in his opinion
is irregular or irrelevant should expostulate with his senior. If the
latter holds by his opinion, the junior must conform.
{d) Officials must be straightforward and outspoken, and not
give outward acquiescence while privately criticising or hindering
their superiors.
(e) Officials must not listen to suggestions from outsiders or talk
with them on official businesa
(/) Officials must be frank with one another, and not form
cliques.
ig) No official must wilfully spread fake rumours about another
or lightly credit such.
QC) No official must absent himself from office without permission
during office hours, or frequent the houses of others.
Besolution 88, passed some months earlier, was even
more explicit : —
Officials are thereby forbidden to divulge official secrets even when
xxxn DEPARTMENTS OF STATE 199
witnesses in a court of law, unless specially permitted to do so ; or
to show despatches to outsiders. They are not allowed to become
directors or managers in a public company ; to accept compensation
from private individuals or gifts from their subordinates ; to undertake,
without permission, extra work for payment ; or to put to private
use Government horses. They may receive honours or presents
from foreign Sovereigns or Gk)vemments only with the special
sanction of His Majesty.
An ordinance restored the use of the uniforms worn
prior to the " Keformation," whether Court dress, full dress,
half-dress, or undress, and announced that neither officials
nor private persons were to be compelled any longer to
we€ur black.
Each Department is presided over by a Minister, who is
empowered to issue Departmental Orders, as Instructions
to the local officials and police, and NotiiScations to the
people. His jurisdiction over the police and local officials
is concurrent with that of his colleagues, who must also be
consulted by him before recommending to the Throne the
promotion or degradation of the higher officials of his
Departmental Staff.
Under the Minister is a Vice-Minister, empowered to
act for him on occasion, and, when doing so, possessing
equal privileges. The Vice-Minister is usually the head
of the Minister's Secretariat, which deals with " confidential
matters, promotions, custody of the Minister's and Depart-
mental Seals, receipt and despatch of correspondence, and
consultation of precedents, preparation of statistics, com-
{olation and preservation of archives."
In addition to the Secretariats, there are a number of
Bureaux, both Secretariats and Bureaux being, for con-
200 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap.
venience, subdivided into sections, each of which has its
special duties.
The Departments of Government are as follows : —
HoBiE Office
The Home Minister has charge of matters concerning
local government, police, gaols, civil engineering, sanitation,
shrines and temples, surveying, printing census, and pubUc
charity, as well as the general supervision of the local
authorities and the police.
FoREiaN Office
The Foreign Minister is vested with the control of inter-
national affairs, the protection of Korean commercial
interests abroad, and the supervision of the Diplomatic
and Consular Services.
The Treasury
" The Minister for Finance, being vested with the con-
trol of the finances of the Government, will have charge of
all matters relating to accounts, revenue, and expenditnre,
taxes, national debts, the currency, banks, and the like,
and will have supervision over the finances of each local
administration " (Ord. 54, § 1).
Under this Minister there is a Taxation Bureau with
three sections — Land-Tax, Excise, and Customs.^ The
' The fin&nces of Korea are now practically under British management,
Mr. J. M'Leavy Brown, LLD., of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs,
and Chief Commissioner of Customs for Korea, having undertaken in
addition the post of Financial Adviser to the Treasury, and a Royal Edict
having been issued that every order for a payment out of the national
purse, down to the smallest, should be countersigned by him.
xxxii DEPARTMENTS OP STATE 201
ordinances connected with the remodelled system of
taxation and the salaries and expenses of officials are
very numerous and minute. The appropriation actually
in money for the Sovereign's Privy Purse was fixed at
$500,000.
War Office
The Minister for War, who must be a general officer,
has charge of the military administration of an army
lately fixed at 6000 men, and the chief control of men
and matters in the army, and is to exercise supervision
over army divisions, and all buildings and forts under his
Department. The new military arrangements are very
elaborate.
Ministry of Education
In this important Department, besides the Minister
and Vice-Minister and heads of Bureaux and Sections, there
are three special Secretaries who act as Inspectors of
Schools, and an official specially deputed to compile and
select text-books.
Besides the Minister's Secretariat, there are the Hdvca-
tion Bureau, which is concerned with primary, normal,
intermediary, fore^ language, techniccd and industrial
schools, and students abroad ; and a Compilation Bureau,
concerned with the selection, translation, and compilation
of text-books ; the purchase, preservation, and arrangement
of volumes, and the printing of books.
Under this Department has been placed the Confucian
College, an institution of the old regime, the purpose of
which was to attend to the Temple of Literature, in which,
202 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT ohaf.
as in China, the Memorial Tablets of Confucius, Mencius,
and the Sages are honoured, and to encoun^e the study
of the classical books. The subjects for study are the
" Three Classics," " Four Books and Popular Commentary,"
Chinese Composition, Outlines of Chinese History — of the
Sung, Ytian, and Ming Dynasties. To meet the reformed
requirements, this College has been reorganised, and the
students, who must be between the ages of twenty and
forty, " of good character, persevering, intelligent, and well
acquainted with a£fairs," are in addition put through a
course of Korean and foreign annals, Korean and foreign
geography, and arithmetic.
Ministry of Justice
The Minister of Justice has charge of judicial matters,
pardons and restorations to rank, instructions for public
prosecution, and supervision over Special Courts, High
Courts, and District Courts ; and the Department forms a
High Court of Justice for the hearing of certain appeals.
Ministry of Agriculture, Trade, and Industry
The Minister of Agriculture has charge of all matters
relating to agriculture, commerce, industries, posts, tele-
graphs, shipping, and marine officers.
In this Department, besides the Minister's Secretariat,
there are Bureaux of Agriculture, Communications, Trade,
Industry, Mining, and Accounts. The Bureau of Agricul-
ture contains Agricultural, Forest, and Natural Products
sections; that of Communications, Post, Telegraph, and
Marine sections ; and that of Trade and Industry deals with
Commerce, Trading Corporations, Weights and Measures,
rxxii THE VILLAGE SYSTEM 203
Manufactures, and Factories. The Mining Bureau has
sections for Mines and Geology, and the Bureau of
Accounts deals with the inventories and expenditure of
the Department.
The Village System
Besides the Eeorganisation of these important Depart-
ments of State, a design for a " Village System," organised
as follows, is to supersede that which had decayed with
the general decay of Government in Korea.
The country is now divided into districts {Kun\ each
Kun containing a number of myrni or cantons, each of
which includes a number of ni or villages. The old posts
and titles are abolished, and each village is now to be
provided with the following officers : —
1. Headman. — He must be over thirty years of age, and
is elected for one year by the householders. The office is
honorary.
2. Clerk, — He holds office under the same conditions as
the Headman, under whom he keeps the books and issues
notices.
3. Elder, — Nominated by the householders, he acts for
the Headman as occasion demands.
4. Bailiff. — Elected at the same time as the Headman,
he performs the usual duties of a servant or messenger,
and holds office for a year on good behaviour.
The corresponding officers of the canton (commune) are
a Mayor, a Clerk, a Bailiff, and a Communal Usher who is
irremovable except for cause given, and is, like the other
officials, elected by the canton.
A Village Council is composed of the Headman and one
204 HEORGANISEb KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap.
man from each family, and is empowered to pass resolu-
tions on matters connected with education, registration of
households or lands, sanitation, roads and bridges, com-
munal grain exchanges, agricultural improvements, common
woods and dykes, payment of taxes, relief in famine or
other calamity, adjustment of the corvee, savings associa-
tions, and bye-laws. The Headman, who acts as chair-
man, has not only a casting vote, but the power to veto.
A resolution passed over the veto of the Headman has to
be referred to the Mayor, and over the veto of the Mayor
to the Prefect. If passed twice over the veto of the
Prefect, reference may be made to the (Jovemor. All
resolutions, however, must be submitted twice a year to
the Home OflSce, through the Prefect and Governor ; and
it is incumbent on the Prefectural Council to sit at least
twice in the year.
Taxes are by a law of 13th October 1895 classified as
Land-Tax, Scutage, Mining Dues, Customs Dues, and Excise.
Excise is now made to include, besides ginseng dues, what
are known as "Miscellaneous Dues," viz. rent of glebe lands,
tax on rushes used in mat-making, market dues on fire-
wood and tobacco, tax on kilns, tax on edible seaweed, tax
on grindstones, up-river dues, and taxes on fisheries,
salterns, and boats. All other imposts have been declared
illegal. The first Korean Budget imder the reformed system
was published in January 1896, and showed an estimated
revenue from all sources of $4,809,410.
The Palace Department imderwent reorganisation, nomi-
nally at least, and elaborate schemes for the administratioti
of Boyal Establishments, State Temples, and Mausolea were
devised, and the relative rank of members of the Royal Clan,
XXXII ROYAL EDICTS 205
including ladies, was fixed — the ladies of the King's Seraglio
being divided into eight classes, and those of the Crown
Prince into four. The number of Court oflBcials attached to
the difTerent Boyal Households, though diminished, is legion.
Various ordinances brought the classification of Korean
officials into line with those of Japan. Every class in the
country, private and official, has come into the purview
of the Beorganisers, and finds its position (on paper) more
or less altered.
Among the more important of the Edicts which have
nominally become law are the following : —
Agreements with China cancelled. Distinctions between
Patrician and Plebeian abolished. Slavery abolished. Early
Marriages prohibited. Eemarriage of widows permitted.
Bribery to be strictly forbidden. No one to be arrested
without warrant for civil offences. Couriers, mountebanks,
and butchers no longer to be under degradation. Local
Councils to be established. New coinage issued. Organisa-
tion of Police force. No one to be punished without trial.
Irregular taxation by Provincial Governments forbidden.
Extortion of money by officials forbidden. Family of a
criminal not to be involved in his doom. Great modifica-
tions as to torture. Superfluous Paraphernalia abolished.
School of Instruction in Vaccination. Hair -cropping
Proclamation. Solar Calendar adopted. " Drilled Troops "
{Kun-ren'tai) abolished. Legal punishments defined.
Slaughter-Houses licensed. Committee of Legal Eevision
appointed. Telegraph Eegulations. Postal Eegulations.
Bail ways placed under Bureau of Communications. These
ordinances are a selection from among several hundred
promulgated since July 1894.
206 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT caxxxn
Of the reforms notified during the last three and a half
years several have not taken effect ; and concerning others
there has been a distinctly retrograde movement, with a
tendency to revert to the abuses of the old regime; and
others which were taken in hand earnestly have gradually
collapsed, owing in part to the limpness of the Korean
character, and in part to the opposition of all in office and
of all who hope for office to any measures of reform.
Some, admirable in themselves, at present exist only on
paper ; but, on the whole, the reorganised system, though
in many respects fragmentary, is a great improvement on
the old one; and it may not unreasonably be hoped
that the young men, who are now being educated in
enlightened ideas and notions of honour, will not repeat
the iniquities of their fathers.
CHAPTEE XXXIII
EDUCATION — ^TRADE — FINANCE
KOBEAN education has hitherto failed to produce patriots,
thinkers, or honest men. It has been conducted thus. In
an ordinary Korean school the pupils, seated on the floor
with their Chinese books in front of them, the upper parts
of their bodies swaying violently from side to side or back-
wards and forwards, from daylight till sunset, vociferate
at the highest and loudest pitch of their voices their
assigned lessons from the Chinese classics, committing
them to memory or reciting them aloud, writing the
Chinese characters, filling their receptive memories with
fragments of the learning of the Chinese sages and passages
of mythical history, the begoggled teacher, erudite and
supercilious, rod in hand and with a book before him, now
and then throwing in a word of correction in stentorian
tones which rise above the din.
This educational mill grinding for ten or more years
enabled the average youth to aspire to the literary degrees
which were conferred at the Kwa-ga or Eoyal Examinations
held in Seoul up to 1894, and which were regarded as the
stepping-stones to official position, the great object of Korean
ambition. There is nothing in this education to develop
208 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE chap.
the thinking powers or to enable the student to understand
the world he lives in. The eflfort to acquire a difficult
language, the knowledge of which gives him a mastery of
his own, is in itself a desirable mental discipline, and the
ethical teachings of Confucius and Mencius, however de-
fective, contain much that is valuable and true, but beyond
this little that is favourable can be said.
Narrowness, grooviness, conceit, superciliousness, a false
pride which despises manual labour, a selfish individualism
destructive of generous public spirit and social trustful-
ness, a slavery in act and thought to customs and traditions
2000 years old, a narrow intellectual view, a shallow moral
sense, and an estimate of women essentiaUy degrading,
appear to be the products of the Korean educational system.
With the abolition of the Boyal Examinations; a change
as to the methods of Government appointments ; the work-
ing of the Western leaven ;^ the increased prominence given
to En-mAjm, and the slow entrance of new ideas into the
country, some of the desire for this purely Chinese educa-
tion has passed away, and it has been found necessary to
stimulate ^at threatened to become a flagging interest in
all education by new educational methods and forces, the
influence of which should radiate from the capital
There are now (October 189*7) Government Yemacular
Schools, a Government School for the study of English,
Foreign Language Schools, and Mission Schools. Outside
the Vernacular and Mission Schools there is the before-
mentioned Boyal English School, with 100 students in
uniform, regularly drilled by a British Sergeant of Marines,
and crazy about football ! These young men, in appearance,
^ See Appendix D,
XXXIII THE PAI CHAI COLLEGE 209
manners, and rapid advance in knowledge of English, re-
flect great credit on their instructors. After this come
Japanese, French, and Bussian Schools, at present chiefly
linguistic. Mr. Birukoff, in charge of the Bussian School,
was a captain of light artiUery in the Bussian army, and
in both the Bussian and French schools the students are
drilled daily by Bussian drill-instructors.
Undoubtedly the establishment which has exercised
and is exercising the most powerful educational, moral, and
intellectual influence in Korea is the Pai Ghai College
(" Hall for the rearing of Useful Men "), so named by the
King in 1887. This, which belongs to the American
Methodist Episcopal Church, has had the advantage of the
services of one Principal, the Bev. H. G. Appenzeller, for
eleven years. It has a Chiaeae-Hn-mun department, for
the teaching of the Chinese classics, Sheflield's Universal
History, etc., a small theological department, and an English
department, in which reading, grammar, composition,
spelling, history, geography, arithmetic, and the elements
of chemistry and natural philosophy are taught Dr.
Jaisohn, a Korean educated in America, has recently
lectured once a week at this College on the geographical
divisions of the earth and the political and ecclesiastical
history of Europe, and has awakened much enthusiasm.
A patriotic spirit is being developed among the students, as
well as something of the English public school spirit with
its traditions of honour. This College is undoubtedly
making a decided impression, and is giving, besides a
liberal education, a measure of that broader intellectual
view and deepened moral sense which may yet prove the
salvation of Korea. Christian instruction is given in
voii.n p
210 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE chap.
Korean, and attendance at chapel is compulsory. The
pupils are drilled, and early in 1897, during the military
craze, adopted a neat European military uniform. There
is a flourishing industrial department, which includes a
trilingual press and a bookbinding establishment, both of
which have full employment.
Early in 1895 the Government, recognising the im-
portance of the secular education given in this College,
made an agreement by which it could place pupils up to
the number of 200 there, paying for their tuition and the
salaries of certain tutors.
There are other schools for girls and boys, in which an
industrial training is given, conducted with some success
by the same Mission, and the American Presbyterians have
several useful schools, and pay much attention to the train-
ing of girls.
The SocUti des Missions Mrangires has in Seoul an
Orphanage and two Boys' Schools, with a total of 262
children. The principal object is to train the orphans
as good Eoman Catholics. In the Boys' Schools the pupils
are taught to read and write Chinese and En-mim, and to
a limited extent they study the Chinese classics. The
religious instruction is given in Sn-mun, They aim at
providing a primary education for the children of Korean
converts.
The boys in the Orphanage are taught Unr-mun only,
and at thirteen are adopted by Boman Catholics in Seoul or
the country, and learn either farming or trades, or, assuming
their own support, enter a trade or become servants. The
elder girls learn Sn-mun, sewing, and housework, and at
fifteen are married to the sons of Boman Catholics. At
xxxni THE REFORMED EDUCATION 211
Biong San near Seoul there is a Theological Seminary for
the training of candidates for the priesthood.
Besides these there is a school established in 1896 by
the " Japanese Foreign Educational Society," which is com-
posed chiefly of ''advanced" Japanese Christians. The
course of study embraces the Chinese classics, En-muny
composition, the study of Japanese as a medium for the
study of Western learning, and lectures on science and
religion. This school was intended by its founders to
work as a Christian propaganda.
In 1897 there were in Seoul nearly 900 students, chiefly
young men, in Mission and Foreign Schools, inclusive
of 100 in the Eoyal English School, which has English
teachers. In the majority of these the students are
trained in Christian morality, fundamental science, general
history, and the principles of patriotism. A certain
amount of denationalisation is connected with most of the
Boys' Schools, for the students necessarily receive new
ideas, thoughts, and views of life, which cannot be shaken
out of them by any local circumstances, changing their
standpoints and the texture of their minds for life. When
they replace the elder generation better things may be
expected for Korea.
The Korean reformed ideas of education, which had
their origin during the Japanese reform era, embrace the
creation of a primary school system, an efficient Normal
College, and Intermediate Schools. Actually existing under
the Department of Education are a revived Confucian
School, the Eoyal English School, and the Normal College,
placed in May 1897 under the very efficient care of the
Rev. H. B. Hulbert, M.A., a capable and scholarly man,
218 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE ohap.
some of whose contributions to our knowledge of Korean
poetry and music have enriched earlier chapters of these
volumes. Text-books in En-^mun and teachers who can
teach them have to be created. It is hoped and expected
that supply will follow demand, and that in a few years
the larger provincial towns will possess Intermediate
or High Schools, and the villages attain the advantages
of elementary schools, all using a uniform series of
text-books in the vernacular. Chinese finds its place
in the curriculum, but not as the medium for teaching
Korean and general history, or geography and arith-
metic, which must be acquired through the native
tongua
In spite of the somewhat spasmodic and altogether
unscientific methods of the Education Department, it
has succeeded in getting the revived Normal College under
way, as well as a &ir number of primary schools, where
over 1000 boys are learning the elements of arithmetic,
geography, and Korean history, with brief outlines of the
systems of government in other civilised countries. Seventy-
seven youths are studying in Japan at Government
expense, and have made fair progress in languages, but are
said to show a lack of mathematical aptitude and logical
power. Altogether the Korean educational outlook is not
without elements of hopefulness.
Though the Foreign Trade of Korea only averages some-
thing less than£l,500,000 annually, the potential commerce
of a country with not less than 12,000,000 of people, all
cotton-clad, ought not to be overlooked. The amoimt of
foreign trade which exists is the growth of thirteen years
only, but when we remember that Korea is a purely
XXXIII KOREAN EXPORTS 213
agricultural country of a very primitive and backward
type, that many of her finest valleys are practically isolated
by mountaiii ranges, traversed by nearly impassable roads,
that the tyranny of custom is strong, that the Korean
farmer is only just learning that a profitable and almost
imlimited demand exists for his rice and beans across the
sea, that the serious cost of his cotton clothing can be kept
down by importing foreign yam or piece goods, and that
his comfort can be increased by the introduction of articles
of foreign manufacture, and that such facts are only slowly
entering the secluded valleys of the Hermit Kingdom, the
actual bulk of the trade is rather surprising, and its
possibilities are worth considering. The net imports of
foreign goods have increased from the value of $2,474,189
in 1886 to $6,531,324 in 1896.^ Measured in dollars, the
trade of 1896 exceeds that of any previous year except
1895, when the occupation of Korea by Japanese troops,
with their large following of transport coolies, created an
artificial expansion.
Among Korean exports, which chiefly consist of beans,
fish (dried manure), cow-hides, ginseng, paper, rice, and
seaweed, there are none which are likely to find a market
elsewhere than in China and Japan, but Korea, so far as
rice goes, is on the way to become the granary of the latter
country, her export in 1890 having reached the value of
£271,000.
With imports, European countries, India, and America
are concerned. Without, I think, being over sanguine, I
anticipate a time when, with improved roads, railroads, and
enlightenment, together with security for the earnings of
^ For detailed statistics of Korean Foreign Trade, see Appendix C.
214 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE chap.
labour from official and patrician exactions, the Korean
will have no further occasion for protecting himself by an
appearance of squalid poverty, and when he will become
on a largely increased scale a consumer as well as a pro-
ducer, and will surround himself with comforts and luxuries
of foreign manufacture, as his brethren are already doing
under the happier rule of Bussia. Under the improved
conditions which it is reasonable to expect, I should not be
surprised if the value of the Foreign Trade of Korea were
to reach £10,000,000 in another quarter of a century, and
the share which England is to have of it is an important
question.
Our great competitor in the Korean markets is Japan,
and we have to deal not only with a rival within twenty
hours of Korean shores, and with nearly a monopoly of
the carrying trade, but with the most nimble -witted,
adaptive, persevering, and pushing people of our day. It
is inevitable that British hardware and miscellaneous
articles must be ousted by the products of Japanese
cheaper labour, and that the Japanese will continue to
supply the increasing demand for scissors, knives, matches,
needles, hoes, grass knives, soap, perfumes, kerosene lamps,
iron cooking pots, nails, and the like, but the loss of the
trade in cotton piece goods would be a serious matter, and
the possibility of it has to be faced.
The value of the import trade in 1896 was £708,461,
as against £876,816 for 1896 (an exceptional year), and
the larger part of this reduction took place in articles of
British manufacture, the decrease of £134,304 in the value
of cotton imports falling almost entirely on cottons of
British origin, the Japanese import not only retaining
xxxin THE BRITISH MANUFACTURERS 216
its position in spite of adverse circumstances, but showing
a slight increase. Japanese sheetings showed a substantial
increase, more than counterbalanced by the diminished
import of the British and American article, and Japanese
cotton yam continued to arrive in larger quantities, and
is gradually driving British and Indian yam out of the
Korean market. It can be sold at a considerably lower
price than the British article, and practicstUy at the same
price as the Indian, with which its improved quality
enables it to compete on very favourable terms.
As the result of inquiries carried on during my two
journeys in the interior, as well as at the treaty ports, it
does not appear to me that Japanese success is even chiefly
caused by proximity, and in 1896 she had to compete with
the enterprise and energy of the Chinese, who, having
returned after the war to the benefits of British protection,
were pushing the distribution of Manchester goods im-
ported from Shanghai
Bather I am inclined to think that the success of our
rival is mainly due to causes which I have seen in opera-
tion in Persia and Central Asia as well as in Korea, and
which embrace not only imperfect knowledge of the
tastes and needs of customers, but the neglect to act upon
information supplied by consular and diplomatic agents,
a groovy adherence to British methods of manufacture, and
the ignoring of native desires as to colours, patterns, and
the widths and makes which suit native clothing and treat-
ment, and the size of bales best suited to native methods
of transport. I do not allude to the charge ofttimes made
against our manufacturers of supplying inferior cottons,
because I have never seen any indications of its correctness.
216 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE chap.
nor have I heard any complaints on the subject either in
Korea or China, but of the ignoring of the requirements of
customers there is no doubt. It is everywhere a grievance
and source of loss, and is likely to lose us the prospective
advantages of the Korean market.
The Japanese success, putting the advantages of prox-
imity aside, is, I believe, mainly due to the accuracy of
the information obtained by their keen-witted agents, who
have visited all the towns and villages in Korea, and to
the carefulness with which their manufacturers are studying
the tastes and requirements of the Korean market. Their
goods reatch the shore in manageable bales, which do not
require to be adapted after arrival to the minute Korean
pony, and their price, width, length, and texture commend
them to the Korean consumer. The Japanese understand
that cotton 18 inches wide is the only cotton from which
Korean garments can be fashioned without very consider-
able waste, and they supply the market with it ; and on
the report of the agents of the importing firms, the weavers
of Osaka and other manufacturing towns with adroitness
and rapidity closely adapted the texture, width, and length
of their cottons to those of the hand-loom cotton goods
made in South Korea, which are deservedly popular for
their durability, and have succeeded not only in producing
an imitation of Korean cotton cloth, which stands the
pounding and beating of Korean washing, but one which
actually deceives the Korean weavers themselves as to its
origin, and which has won great popularity with the Korean
women. If Korea is to be a British market in the future,
the lost ground must be recovered by working on Japanese
lines, which are the lines of commercial common sense.
xxxm THE EXPORT OP GOLD 217
To sum up, I venture to express the opinion that the
droumstances of the large population of Korea are destined
to gradual improvement with the aid of either Japan or
Bussia, that foreign trade must increase more or less
steadUy with increased buying powers and improved means
of transport, and that the amount which faUs to the share
of Great Britain will depend largely upon whether British
manufacturers are willing or not to adapt their goods to
Korean tastes and convenience.
As instances of the aptitude of the Koreans for taking
to foreign articles which suit their needs, it may be men-
tioned, on the authority of a report from the British
Consul-General to the British Foreign OflSce on Trade and
Finance in Korea for 1896, presented to Parliament July
1897, that the import of lucifer matches reached the
figure of £11,386,^ while that of American and Bussian
kerosene exceeded £36,000.
In 1896 the export of gold increased, and was
$1,390,412, one million dollars* worth being exported from
Won-san alone. The gold export included, the excess of
Korean imports over exports was only about £50,000, and
as it is estimated that only one-half of the gold actually
leaving the country is declared, it may be assumed that
Korea is able to pay for a larger supply of foreign goods
than she has hitherto taken. The statistics of Korean
Foreign Trade which are to be found in the Appendix are
the latest returns, supplied to me by the courtesy of the
Korean Customs Department,^ the returns of shipping and
I This seems incredible, and compels one to suppose that £ is a mis-
print for $.
^ See Appendix B.
218 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE chap.
of principal articles of export and import being taken from
H.B.M/S Consul-Generars Eeport for 1896, presented to
Parliament July 189*7.^ With reference to the shipping
returns, it must be observed that the British flag is practi-
cally unrepresented in Korean waters, even a chartered
British steamer being rarely seen. The monopoly of the
carrying trade which Japan has enjoyed has only lately
been broken into by the establishment of a Bussian sub-
sidised line as a competitor.
In addition to the trade of the three ports open to
Foreign Trade in 1896, to which the returns given refer
exclusively, there is that carried on by the non-treaty
ports, and on the Chinese and Bussian frontiers.
In concluding this brief notice of the Foreign Trade of
Korea, I may remark that Japanese competition, so far as
it consists in the ability to undersell us owing to cheaper
labour, is hkely to diminish year by year, as the conditions
under which goods can be manufactured gradually approxi-
mate to those which exist in England ; the rapidly increas-
mg price of the necessaries of life in Japan, the demand
for more than "a living wage," and an appreciation of the
advantages of combination all tending in this direction.
On the subject of Finance there is little to be said. The
principal items of revenue are a land-t£ix of six dollars on
a fertile h/el, and five dollars on a mountain h/el, a house-
tax of 60 cents annually, from which houses in the capital
are exempt, the ginseng-tax, and the gold-dues, making up
a budget of about 4,000,000 dollars, a sum amply sufficient
for the legitimate expenditure of the country. The land-
tax is extremely light. Only about a third of the revenue
^ See Appendix C.
xxxm THE KOREAN TREASURY 219
actually collected reaches the National Treasury, partly
owing to the infinite corruption of the oflBcials through
whose hands it passes, and partly because provincial income
and expenditure are to a certain extent left to local manage-
ment. If the Government is in earnest in the all-import-
ant matter of educating the people, the increased expendi-
ture can readily be met by imposing taxation on such
articles of luxury as wine and tobacco, which are enor-
mously consumed, Seoul alone possessing 475 wine shops
and 1100 tobacco shops. But even without resorting to
any new source of revenue, with strict supervision and
regular accounts the income of the Central Government is
capable of considerable expansion.
In spite of the awful oflBcial corruption which has been
revealed, and the chaos which up to 1896 prevailed in the
Treasury, the Korean financial outlook is a hopeful one.
At the close of 1895 the King persuaded Mr. M^Leavy
Brown, LL.D., the Chief Commissioner of Customs, to
undertake the thankless office of Adviser to the Treasury,
confirming his position some months later by the issue of
an edict making his signature essential to all orders for pay-
ments out of the national purse. Korean imagination and
ingenuity are chiefly fertile in devising tricks and devices
for getting hold of public money, and anything more
hydra-headed than the dishonesty of Korean official life
cannot be found, so that it is not surprising that as soon
as the foreign adviser blocks one nefarious proceeding
another is sprung upon him, and that the army of.
useless drones, deprived of their " vested interests " by the
judicious retrenchments which have been made, as well as
thousands who are trembling for their ill-gotten gains.
220 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE ohap.
should oppose financial reform by every device of Oriental
ingenuity.
However, race, as represented by the honour and
capacity of one European, is carrying the day, and Korean
Finance is gradually being placed on a sound basis. With
careful management, judicious retrenchments of expendi-
ture, the reduction of the chaos in the Treasury to an
orderly system of accounts, and a different method of
collecting the land-tax, which is now being remitted with
tolerable regularity to the Treasury, an actual financial
equilibrium was established and mamtained- during the
year 1896, which closed with a considerable surplus, and
in April 1897 one million dollars of the Japanese loan of
three millions was repaid to Japan, and there is every
prospect that the remaining indebtedness might be paid ofT
out of income in 1899, leaving Korea in the proud posi-
tion of a country without a national debt, and with a
surplus of income over expenditure !
The prosperous financial conclusion of 1896 is all the
more remarkable because of certain exceptional expendi-
tures. Two new regiments were added to tiie army, the
old Arsenal, a disused costly toy, was put into working
order, witii all necessary modem improvements, under
the supervision of a Bussian machinist, the Kyeng-wun
F^dace was built, costly ceremonies and works cQtmected
with the late Queen's prospective funeral were paid for,
and a considerable area of western Seoul was recreated.
All civil Government employis (and they are legion), as
well as soldiers and police, ar6 paid r^ularly every month,
and sinecures are very slowly disappearing.
A Korean silver, copper, and brass coinage, convenient
xxxm THE NEW COINAGE 221
as well as ornamental, is coming into general circulation,
and as it gradually displaces cashy is setting trade free
from at least one of the conditions which hampered it,
and increased banking facilities are tending in the same
direction.
224 KOREAN D^MONISM OR SHAMANISM chap.
been ascertained. There is an unwillingness to speak to
foreigners on this topic, and inquirers may have been
purposely misled, but enough has been gained to make it
likely that further inquiry will be productive of very
valuable results.^ The superstitions already mentioned,
however trivial in themselves, point to that which underlies
all religion, the belief in something outside ourselves
which is higher or more powerful than ourselves.
It is indeed asserted by many of the so-called educated
class that the only cult in Korea is ancestor-worship, and
they profess to ridicule the rags, cairns, shrines, and the
other paraphernalia of daemon-worship, as the superstition
of women and coolies, and it is probable that, in Seoul at
least, few men of the upper class are believers, or patronise
the rites otherwise than as unmeaning customs which it
would be impolitic to discontinue ; but it is safe to say that
from the Palace to the hovel all women, and a majority of
men, go through the forms which, influencing Buddhism,
and possibly being modified by it, have existed in Korea
for more than fifteen centuries.
Without claiming any degree of scientific accuracy for
the term Shamanism, as applied to this cult in Korea, it is
more convenient to use it, the word daemon having come
to bear a popular meaning which prohibits its use where
good spirits as well as bad are indicated. So fSEur as I
know. Shamanism exists only in Asia, and flourishes
^ I desire again to express my indebtedness to the ReT. 6. Heber Jones,
of Chemnlpo, for the loan of, and the liberty to use, his yery careful and
painstaking notes on the subject of Korean dfemonism, and lUao to a paper
on The Exorcism of Spirits in Korea^ by Dr Landis of Chemulpa Apart
from the researches of these two Korean scholars, the results of my own
inquiry and obaerration would scarcely haye been worth publishing.
XXXIV ANTIQUITY OF SHAMANISM 226
specially among the tribes north of the Amur, the
Samoyedes, Ostiaks, etc., as well as among hill tribes on
the south-western frontier of China. The term Shaman
may be applied to all persons, male or female, whose pro-
fession it is to have direct dealings with daemons, and to
possess the power of securing their good- will and averting
their malignant influences by various magical rites, charms,
and incantations, to cure diseases by exorcisms, to predict
future events, and to interpret dreams.
Korean Sharnanism or Dsemonism differs from that of
northern Asia in its mildness, possibly the result of early
Buddhist influence. It is the cult of daemons not necessarily
evil, but usually the enemies of man, and addicted to
revenge and caprice. Though the Shamans are neither an
order, nor linked by a common organisation, they are
practically recognised as a priesthood, in so far as it is
through their offices that the daemons are approached and
propitiated on behalf of the people. It is supposed that the
Shaman or wizard was one of the figures in the dawn of
Korean history, and that Daemonism in its early stage was
marked by human sacrifices. Shamans in the train of
royalty, and as a part of the social organisation of the
Peninsula, figure in very early Korean story, and they
appear to have been the chief, if not the only, " religious "
instructors.
One class among the Shamans is incorporated into one
of those guilds which are the Trades Unions of Korea, and
the Government has imposed registration on another class.^
^ What is true in Korea to-day may be untrue to-morrow. One month
there was a police raid in Seoul upon the mtc-tang or sorceresses, another
the sisterhood was flourishing ; and so the pendulum swings.
V0L.n Q
226 KOREAN D.£MONISM OR SHAMANISM ohap.
There are now two principal classes of Shamans, the Pan-mi
and the mu-tang. The Pan-su, are blind sorcerers, and
those parents are fortunate who have a blind son, for he is
certain to be able to make a good living and support tiiem
in their old age. The Pari-^u were formerlj persons of
much distinction in the kingdom, but their social position
has been lowered during the present dynasty, though in
the present reign their influence in the Palace, and specially
with the late Queen, has wrought much eviL The chief
officials of the Pan-su Guild in Seoul hold the official titles
of Cham-pan^ and Seung-ji from the GU)yemment, which
gives prestige to the whole body. In order to guard their
professional interests, the Pan-su have local guilds, and in
the various sections "dub-houses" built out of their own
funds. The central office of the Pan-su guild in Seoul was
built and maintained by Government, and the two chief
officials of the guild hold, or held, ;2£a«t-official rank.
It appears that admission into the fraternity is only
granted to an applicant on his giving proof of proficiency
in the knowledge of a cumbrous body of orally-transmitted
Shaman tradition, wisdom and custom, much of it believed
by the people to be 4000 years old, and embracing scraps
of superstition from the darkest arcana of Buddhism, as
well as fragments of Confucianism. The neophyte has to
learn of "the existence, nature, and power of daemons,
their relations with man, the efficacy of exorcism through
a magic ritual, and the genuine and certain character of
the results of divination.'* He must meditate on "the
^ Cham-pan is a title of ofiScials of a certain rank in Government
Departments in Seoul, and might be rendered Secretary of Department«
Seung-ji probably has the same meaning.
XXXIV THE COST OF D^MON-WORSHIP 227
customs, habits, and weaknesses of every class in Korean
society, in order to deal knowingly with his clients. A
slight acquaintance with Confacianism must enable him
to give a flavour of learning to his speech, and he must
be well drilled in the methods of exorcisms, incantations,
magic spells, divination, and the manufacture of charms
and amulets." ^
The services of sorcerers or geomancers are invariably
called for in connection with the choice of sites for houses
and graves, in certain contracts, and on the occasion of
unusual calamities, sickness, births, marriages, and the
purchase of land. The chief functions of the Shaman are,
the influencing of daemons by ritual and magical rites,
propitiating them by ofierings, exorcisms, and the procuring
of oracles. In their methods, dancing, gesticulations, a
real or feigned ecstasy, and a drum play an important part.
The fees of the Shaman are high, and it is believed that,
at the lowest computation, Dsemonism costs Korea two
million five hundred thousand dollars annually ! In order
to obtain favours or avert calamities, it is necessary to
employ the Shamans as mediators, and it is their fees, and
not the cost of the ofierings, which press so heavily on the
people.
Among the reasons which render the Shaman a necessity
are these. In Korean belief, earth, air, and sea are
peopled by daemons. They haunt every umbrageous tree,,
shady ravine, crystal spring, and mountain crest. On
green hill-slopes, in peaceful agricultural valleys, in grassy
dells, on wooded uplands, by lake and stream, by road and
river, in north, south, east, and west, they abound, making
malignant sport out of human destinies. They are on
228 KOREAN DiEMONISM OR SHAMANISM chap.
every roof, ceiling, fireplace, kang and beam. They fill the
chimney, the shed, the living room, the kitchen — they are on
every shelf and jar. In thousands they waylay the traveller
as he leaves his home, beside him, behind him, dancing in
front of him, whirring over his head, crying out upon
him from earth, air, and water. They are numbered by
thovsands of hUlions, and it has been well said that their
ubiquity is an unholy travesty of the Divine Omnipresence.^
This belief, and it seems to be the only one he has, keeps
the Korean in a perpetual state of nervous apprehension, it
surrounds him with indefinite terrors, and it may truly be
said of him that he ''psisses the time of his sojourning
here in fear." Every Korean home is subject to daemons,
here, there, and everywhere. They touch the Korean at
every point in life, making his well-being depend on a
continual series of acts of propitiation, and they avenge
every omission with merciless severity, keeping him under
this yoke of bondage from birth to death.
The phrase "daemon -worship" as applied to Korean
Shamanism is somewhat misleading. These legions of
spirits which in Korean belief people the world, are of two
classes, the first alone answering to our conception of
daemons. These are the self- existent spirits, unseen
enemies of man, whose designs are always malignant or
malicious, and spirits of departed persons, who, having
died in poverty and manifold distresses, are unclothed,
hungry, and shivering vagrants, bringing untold calamities
on those who neglect to supply their wants. It is true,
however, that about 80 per cent of the l^ons of spirits
are malignant The second class consists also of self-
^ Rev. G. H. Jones.
xxxiv EXORCISM 229
existent spirits, whose natures are partly kindly, and of
departed spirits of prosperous and good people, but even
these are easily offended and act with extraordinary
capriciousness. These, however, by due intercessions and
offerings, may be induced to assist man in obtaining his
desires, and may aid him to escape from the afUctive
power of the evil daemons. The comfort and prosperity
of every individual depend on his ability to win and keep
the favour of the latter class.
Koreans attribute every ill by which they are afllicted
to dsemoniacal influence. Bad luck in any transaction,
of&cial malevolence, illness, whether sudden or prolonged,
pecuniary misfortune, and loss of power or position, are
due to the malignity of daemons. It is over such evils
that the Pan-su is supposed to have power, and to be able
to terminate them by magical rites, he being possessed
by a powerful daemon, whose strength he is able to
wield.
As an example of the modvs operandi, exorcism in
sickness which is believed to be the work of an unclean
daemon may be taken. The Pan-su arrives at the house,
and boldly undertakes the expulsion of the foul spirit, the
process being divided into four stages.^ ■■( < .
1. By a few throws from the tortoise divining box,
the sorcerer discovers the daemon's nature and character,
after which he seeks for an auspicious hour and makes
arrangements for the next stage.
2. Gaining control of the daemon follows. The Pan-su
equips himself with a wand of oak or pine a foot and half
^ This detailed account is from notes kindly lent to me by the Rev.
G. H. Jones.
230 KOREAN D^MONISM OR SHAMANISM ohap.
long, and a bystander is asked to hold this in an upright
position on an ironing stona Magic formulas are recited
till the rod begins to shake and even dance on the stone,
this activity being believed to be the result of the daemon
having entered the wand. At this stage a talk takes place
to test the accuracy of the divination of the daemon's name
and nature, and of the cause of the affliction. The Pan-su
manages the questions so dexterously that a simple yes is
indicated by motion in the wand, while no is expressed by
quiescence. At this stage the daemon is given the choice
of quietly disappearing ; after which, if he is obstinate, the
Pan-su proceeds to dislodge him.
3. The third stage involves the aid of certain familiars
of the Pan-su. A special wand, made of an eastern branch
of a peach tree, which has much repute in expelling
daemons, is taken, and is held on a table in a vertical
position by an assistant. The Pan-su recites a farther part
of his magic ritual, its power being shown by acute move-
ments in the wand in spite of attempts to keep it steady.
A parley takes place with the Chang-gun, the spirit who
has been summoned to find out his objects. He promises
to catch the Chang-kun, the malignant daemon, and after
preparations and offerings have been made he is asked to
search for him. The man who holds the wand is violently
dragged by a supernatural power out of the house to the
place where the Chang-hm is. Then the Chavg-gun is
supposed to seize him, and the wand -holder is dragged
back to the house.
4 A bottle with a wide mouth is put on the floor, and
alongside it a piece of paper inscribed with the name of
the unclean daemon, which has been obtained by divination
XXXIV RITUAL AND SACRIFICE 231
and parley. The paper being touched with the magic
wand jumps into the bottle, which is hastily corked and
buried on the hill-side or at the cross-roads.
This singular form of exorcism has a long and un-
intelligible ritual, in the cases of those who can afford to
pay for it occupying some days, and at greater or lesser
length is repeated daily by the Shamans throughout
Korea. It is usually succeeded by a form known as the
Eitual of Pacification, which takes a whole night. This is
for the purpose of restoring order among the household
daemons, who have been much upset by the previous
proceedings, cleaning the house, and committing it and its
inmates to the protection of the most powerful members
of the Korean daemoniacal hierarchy.
The instruments of exorcism used by the Pan-su are"
offerings to be made at various stages of the process,
a drum, cymbals, a bell, a divination box, and a wand or
wands.
The Shamans claim to have derived many of their very
numerous spells and formulas from Buddhists, who on their
side assert that daemon -worship was practised in Korea
long before the introduction of Buddhism, and a relic of
this worship is pointed out in the custom which prevails
in the Korean magistracies of offering to guardian spirits
on stone altars on the hills, pigs, or occasionally sheep, before
sowing time and after harvest, as well as in case of drought,
or other general calamity. This sacrifice is offered by the
local magistrate in the king's name, and though identical
in form with that offered to Haruinim (the Lord of Heaven)
is altogether distinct from it: Most of the formulae recited
by the Shamans have the reputation of being unsafe for
232 EOBEAN DiBMONISM OR SHAMANISM ghaf.
ordinary people to use, but in consideration of the possi-
bility of a great emergency, one is provided, which is
pronounced absolutely safe. This consists of fifty-six
characters which must be recited forwards, backwards, and
sideways, and is called " The twenty-eight stars formula."^
Divination is the second function of the Pan-su, and
consists in a forecast of the future by means of rituals,
known only to himself, associated with the use of certain
paraphernalia. This is used also for finding out the result
of a venture, or the cause of an existing trouble, and for
casting a man's horoscope, i.e. " The four columns of a
man's future," these being the hour, day, month, and year
of his birth, or rather their four combinations. This
"^ horoscope is the crowning function of divination. In
these " four colimms " the secret of a man's life is hidden,
and their relations must govern him in all his actions.
When a horoscope contains an arrow, which denotes ill-
luck, the Pan-su corrects the misfortune by formulae used
with a bow of peach, with which during the recital he shoots
arrows made of a certain reed into a " non-prohibited "
quarter. One of the great duties of divination is to cast
the horoscope of a bride and bridegroom for an auspicious
day for the wedding, for an unlucky one would introduce
daemons to the ruin of the new household.
The great strongholds of divination are the "Prpg-
Boxes" and dice-boxes, manufactured for this purpose.
The frog-box is made like a tortoise, having movable lips,
and contains three cash, over which the Pan-su repeats a
^ *'The twenty -eight constellations, or stellar mansions, referred to in
the Shu King, one of the Chinese classical books, shoi^ing the close con-
nection between Chinese and Korean superstition." — W. C. H.
XXXIV IMPLEMENTS OF DIVINATION 233
very ancient invocation, which has been translated thus :
" Will all you people grant to reveal the symbols." The
coins are thrown three times, and the three falls present
him with the combinations of characters, out of which he
manufactures his oracle. The second implement of divina-
tion is a bamboo or brass tube closed at both ends, but
with a small hole in one to allow of the exit of small
bamboo splinters of which it contains eight. The same
thing is to be seen on innumerable altars in China. Each
splinter has from one to eight notches on it, and stands
for a symbol of certain signs on that divining table 3000
years old, called the Ho-pai, which is implicitly believed
in by the Chinese. Two of these splinters give two sets
of characters, eight being connected with each symbol
When the Pan-su has obtained these he is ready to evolve
his oracle.
Great reliance is placed on the charms which the Pan-su
make and seU. Probably there are few adults or children
who do not wear these as amulets. They are generally
made in the form of insects, or consist of Chinese characters.
They are written on specially-prepared yellow paper in
red ink, and are regarded as being efficacious against
illness and other calamities. Amulets are made of the
wood of trees struck by lightning, which is supposed to
possess magical qualities.
236 DiEMONISM IN KOREA chap.
daemons. It is essential that the festival day should be
chosen by divination, by either a Son-It or a Pan-su
acquainted with magic, and that the sorcerers should bathe
frequently and abstain from animal food for seven previous
days.
The village daemon festival has a resemblance at some
points to the Shinto matsv/ri of Japan. On the festa day
a booth, much decorated with tags of brilliant colour, is
erected near the daemons' shrine, and with an accompani-
ment of mvr-tang music, dancing, and lavish and outlandish
gesticulations, the offerings are presented to the spirits.
The popular belief is that the daemons become incarnate
in the mvr-tang, who utter oracles called Kong-su Na-ta,
and the people bring them bowls of uncooked rice, and
plead for a revelation of their future during the following
three years. A common ''test" at this festival is the
burning a tube of very thin white paper in a bowL Its
upper end is lighted by the mu-tang, who recites her
spells as it burns. When it reaches the rim of the bowl,
if the augury for the future be unfavourable, the paper
bums away in the bowl, if favourable, the paper lifts
itself and is blown away.
The private festay the Chbl-mwri KavJty one of thanks-
giving to the household daemons, is necessary to secure a
continuance of their good offices. The expenditure of the
family resources on this occasion is so lavish as frequently
to impoverish the household for a whole year. This festa
may be biennial or triennial At the time a pig is sacrificed,
offerings are made, mvrtang are hired, and the fetishes of
the daemons are renewed or cleaned. The Bitual for these
occasions, if unabbreviated, lasts several days, but among
XXXV MU-TANG FUNCTIONS 237
the poor only a selection from it is used. Its stages consist
of rituals of invocation, petition, offering, and purification.
While these are being recited a household spirit becomes
incarnate in the mvr-tang, and through her makes oracular
revelations of the future. At another stage deceased
parents and ancestors appear in the mvrtang, and her
personation of them is described by an eye-witness as both
" pathetic and ludicrous." At Seoul this festival is observed
by families at the daemon shrines outside the city walls,
and not in private houses.
One of the very common occasions which requires the
presence of a mvr-tang is the ceremonial known as the Bite
of Purification, defilement being contracted by a birth or
death or any action which brings in an unclean daemon, '";
whose obnoxious entrance moves the guardian or friendly
daemons to leave the house. A wand cut from a pine tree
to the east of the house is used to bring about their return.
It is set working by the muttered utterance of special
spells or formulae by the mu-tang, the mont-gari, or tutelary
spirit, is found, and by means of prayers and oflfierings is
induced to resume his place, and the unclean daemon is
exorcised and expelled. The beating of a drum and the
frequent sprinkling of pure water are portions of this rite.
The utterance of oracles is another great function of
the mvrtang. In spite of the low opinion of women held
by the Koreans, so strong is the belief in the complete
daemoniacal possession of the mu-taru/, and their consequent
elevation above their sex, that the Koreans refer fully as
much to them as to the Pan-su for information regarding
the outcome of commercial ventures, and of projects of
personal advancement, as well as for the hidden causes of
238 D.£MONISM IN KOREA chap.
the loss of wealth or position, or of adversity or illnesa
The mtirtang, by an appeal to her familiar daemon, in some
cases obtains a direct answer, and in others a reply by the
divining chime, or the rice divination. The latter consiBts
of throwing down some grains of rice on a table and noting
the combinations which result. The " divining chime " is
a hazel wand with a circle of beUs at one end. These are
shaken violently by the mu-tang, and in the din thus
created she hears the utterance of the daemon.
The arranging for the sale of children to daemons is a
further function of the mu-tang, and is carried on to a veiy
great extent. The Korean father desires prosperity and
long life for his boy (a girl being of little account), and the
sale of the child to a spirit is he believes the best way of
attaining his object. When the so-called sale has been
decided on, the father consults the sorceress as to when
and where it shall be mada The place chosen is usually
a boulder near home, and the child is there " consecrated "
to the daemon by the mu-tang with fitting rites. Thence-
forward, on the 15th day of the 1st moon, and the 3rd
day of the 3rd moon, worship and sacrifice are ofiTered to
the boulder. After this act of sale the name of the daemon
becomes part of the boy's nama It is not an unusual
thing for the sale to be made to the mvrtaTig herself, who
as the proxy of her daemon accepts the child in case she
learns by a magic rite that she may do so. She takes in
its stead one of its rice bowls and a spoon, and these,
together with a piece of cotton cloth on which the facts
concerning the sale of the child are written, are laid up in
her own house in the room devoted to her daemon. There
is a famous mu-taTigy whose house I have been in just
rr THE HOUSE D^MON 239
outside the south gate of Seoul, who has nrany of these,
which are placed on tables below the painted daubs of
daemons ordinarily, but which, on great occasions, are used
as banners. At the Periodic Festivals offerings are made
on behalf of these children, who, though they live with
their parents, know the sorceress or mu-tang as Shin, and
are considered her children.
The mu-tang rites are specially linked with the house
daemon and with Mama the Bmallpox dfemon. The
house daemon is on the whole a good one, being supposed
to bring health and happiness, and if invited with due
ceremony he is willing to take up bis abode under every
roof. He cannot always keep off disease, and in the
case of contagious fevers, etc., he disappears until the rite
of purification has been accomplished and he baa been
asked to return. The ceremonies attending bis recall
deserve notice. On this great occasion the mtt-tang in
office ties a lai^e sheet of paper round a rod of oak, holds
it upright, and goes out to hunt him. She may find him
near, as if waiting to be invited back, or at a considerable
distance, but in either case he makes his presence known
by shaking the rod so violently that several men cannot
hold it stiil, and then returns with the mu-iang to the
house, where he is received with lively demonstrations of
joy. The paper which was round the stick is folded, a
few tMsh are put into it, it is soaked in wine, and is then
thrown up gainst a beam in the house to which it sticks,
and is followed by some rice which adheres to it. That
special spot is the abiding place of the daemon. This
ceremony involves a family in very considerable expense.
The universal belief that illness is the work of diemons
240 D^MONISM IN KOREA chap.
renders the services of a Pan-su or mu-tang necessary
wherever it enters a house, and in the case of smallpox,
the universal scourge of Korean childhood, the daemon,
instead of being exorcised, bottled, or buried, is treated
with the utmost respect. The name hj which the disease
is called, " Mama," is the daemon's name. It is said that
he came from South China, and has infested Korea for
only 1000 years. On the disease appearing, the mu^ng
is called in to honour the arrival of the spirit with a feast
and fitting ceremonial Little or no work is done, and if
there are neighbours whose children have not had the
malady, they rest likewise, lest, displeased with their want
of respect, he should deal hardly with them. The parents
do obeisance (worship) to the sufiTering child, and address
it at all times in honorific terms. Danger is supposed
to be over after the 12th day, when the mu-tang is again
summoned, and a farewell banquet is given. A miniature
wooden horse is prepared, and is loaded for the spirit's
journey with small bags of food and money, fervent and
respectful adieus' are spoken, and he receives hearty
good wishes for his prosperous return to his own place !
In the course of many centuries the office of the mu^n^
has undergone considerable modification. Formerly her
power consisted in the foretelling of events by the move-
ments of a turtle on the application of hot iron to his
back, and by the falling of a leaf of certain trees. Her
present vocation is chiefly mediatorial It is also becoming
partially hereditary, her daughter or even daughter-in-law
taking up her work. The ''call" is considered a grave
calamity. Ordinarily these women are of the lower class.
They are frequently worshippers of Buddha, after the gross
XXXV AN UNCLASSIFIED HORDE 241
and debased cult which exists in Korea, and place his
picture along with those of the daemons in the small
temples in their houses.
Taking the male and female Shamanate together, the
Sharrums possess immense power over the people, from
the clever and ambitious Korean queen, who resorted
constantly to the Pan-sv, on behalf of the future of the
Crown Prince, down to the humblest peasant family.
They are in intimate contact with the people in all
times of difficulty and affliction, their largest claims
are conceded, and they are seldom out of employment.
The daemons whose professed j^ervants the Shamans are,
and whose yoke lies heavy on Korea, are rarely even
mythical beings who might possibly have existed in
human shape. They are legion. They dwell in all matter
and pervade all space. They are a horde without organisa-
tion, destitute of genus, species, and classification, created
out of Korean superstitions, debased Buddhism, and Chinese
mythical legend. There have been no native attempts at
their arrangement, and whatever has been done in this
direction is due to the labours of Mr. G. H. Jones and
Dr. Landis, from whose lists a few may be chosen as
specimens.
The O'lang-ch/mg-hm are five, and some of the more
important preside over East Heaven, South, West, North,
and Middle. In Shamain^ houses shrines are frequently
erected to them, bearing their collective name, to which
worship is paid. They are held in high honour and are
prominent in Pan-su rites. At the entrance of many
villages on the south branch of the Han the villagers
represent them by posts with tops rudely carved into
V0L.n B
242 DiSMONISM IN KOREA chap.
hideous caricatures of humanity, which are ofttiines
decorated with straw tassels, and receive offerings of rice
and firuit as village protectors (see p. 83).
The Shin-chang are daemon generals said to number
80,000, each one at the head of a daemon host They fill
the earth and air, and are specially associated with the
Pansu, who are capable of summoning them by magic
formulae to aid in divination and exorcism. Shrines to
single members of this militant host occur frequently in
Central Korea, each one containing a highly-coloured daub
of a gigantic mediaeval warrior, and the words, " I, the Spirit,
dwell in this place."
The Tok-gabi are the most dreaded and detested, as
well as the best known, of all the daemon horde. Tet they
seem nondescripts, and careful and patient examination
has only succeeded in rel^ating them to the class of such
myths as the WHl o' the Wisp and Jack o' Lantern,
elevated, however, in Korea to the status of genuine devils
with fetishes of their own. They are r^arded as having
human originals in the souls of those who have come to
sudden or violent ends. They are bred on execution-
grounds and battle-fields, and wherever men perish in
numbers. They go in overwhelming l^ons, and not only
dwell in empty houses but in inhabited villages, terrifying
the inhabitants. They it was who, by taking possession of
the fine Audience Hall of the Mulberry P^ace in Seoul,
rendered the buildings untenable, frightful tales being told
and believed of nocturnal daemon orgies amidst those
dolefrd splendours. People leave their houses and build
new ones because of them. Their fetishes may be soeh
things as a mapH*s hat or the cloak of a yamtm derk.
XXXV MOUNTAIN DEMONS 243
rotten with age and dirt, enshrined under a small straw
booth. Besides the devilry attributed to the Tok-gdbi
they are accused of many pranks, such as placing the
covers of iron pots inside them, and pounding doors and
windows all night, till it seems as if they would be
smashed, yet leaving no trace of their work.
The actually unclean spirits, the Sagem, the criminal
class of the vast " DcBmoneon*' infest Korean life like vermin,
wandering about embracing every opportunity of hurting
and molesting man. Against these both Fan-su and mu-
tang wage continual war by their enchantments, the Pan-su
by their exorcisms either driving them off or catching
them and burying them in disgrace, while the mu-tang
propitiate them and send them off in honoiir.
Another great group of daemons is the San-Shin Ryimg
— the spirits of the mountains. I found their shrines in
all the hilly country, along both branches of the Han, by
springs and streams, and speciaUj under the shade of big
trees, and on -4mpeZopsw-covered rocks, a flat rock being a
specially appropriate site from its suitability for an altar,
and thus specially " fortimate." The daemon who is the
tutelary spirit of ginseng, the most valuable export of
Korea, is greatly honoured. So also is the patron daemon
of deer-hunters, who is invariably represented in his shrine
as a fierce-looking elderly man in official dress riding a
tiger. Surrounding him are altars to his harem, and there
are also female daemons, mountain spirits, who are pictured
as women, frequently Japanese.
The tiger which abounds in Central and Northern
Korea is understood to be the confidential servant of these
mountain demons, and when he commits depredations,
244 DiEMONISM IN KOREA chap.
the people, believing the daemon of the vicinity to be angry,
hurry with offerings to his nearest shrine. The Koreans
consider it a good omen when they see in their dreams the
mountain daemon, either as represented in his shrine, or
under the form of his representative the tiger. These
mountain daemons are specially sought by recluses, and
people ofttimes retire into solitary mountain glens, where,
by bathing, fasting, and offerings, they strive to gain their
favour. These spirits, believed to be very powerful, are
much feared by farmers, and by villagers living near high
mountains. They think that if when they are out on the
hill-sides cutting wood they forget to cast the first spoon-
ful of rice fixjm the bowl to the daemon, they will be
punished by a severe fall or cut, or some other accident.
These spirits are capricious and exacting, and for every
little neglect take vengeance on the members of a farmer's
household or on his crops or cattle. '
The Long-sMn, or Dragon daemons, are water spirits.
They have no shrines, but the Shamans conduct a somewhat
expensive ceremony by the sea and river sides in which
they present them with offerings for the repose of the
souls of drowned persons.
The phase of Daemonolatry which is the most commor
and the first to arrest a traveller's attention is also thi
most obscure. The Song WTioang Dan (altar of the Hoi;
Prince), the great Korean altar, rudely built of loose stone
under the shade of a tree, from the branches of which ai
suspended such worthless ex votos as strips of paper, rag
small bags of rice, old clouts, and worn-out shoes, looks lei
like an altar than a decaying cairn of large size.^
^ Mr. G. H. Jones suggests the idea that these uncouth heaps of stor
XXXV LOCAL DJSMONS 246
peculiarity of the Simg Whoang Dan is that they are gener-
ally supposed to be frequented by various daemons, though
occasionally they are crowned by a shrine to a single spirit.
Korean travellers make their special plea to a travellers'
dsBmon who is supposed to be found there, and hang up strips
of their goods in the overhanging branches, and the sailor
likewise regards the altar as the shrine of his guardian
daemon, and bestows a bit of old rope upon it. Further
than this, when some special bird or beast has destroyed
insects injurious to agriculture, the people erect a shrine
to it on these altars or cairns, on which may frequently be
seen the rude daub of a bird or animal.
Two spirits, the To-ti-chi Shin and the Chon-Shin, are
regarded as local daemons, and occupy spots on the
mountain-sides. They receive worship at funerals, and a
sacrifice similar to that ofTered in ancestral worship is
made to them before the body is laid in the earth. Two
Shamans preside over this, and one of them intones a
ritual belonging to the occasion. The shrine of Chon-Shin
is a local temple, a small decayed erection usually found
outside villages. In Seoul he has a mud or plaster shrine
in which his picture is enshrined with much ceremony,
but in the country his fetish is usually a straw booth set
up over a pair of old shoes under a tree. For the obser-
vances connected with him all the residents in a neighbour-
hood are tgj^d. He may be regarded as the chief daemon
in every district, and it is in his honoiir that the mvrtang
celebrate the triennial festival formerly described.
were origiually munitions of war over which tutelary dsemons were
supposed to brood, and thinks that the transition to an altar would be a
very natural one.
246 D^MONISM IN KOREA ohaf.
The Household Spirits are the last division of the
Korean Dcemoneon, Song Ju, the spirit of the ridge-pole,
who presides over the home, occupies a sort of imperial
position with regard to the other household spirits.
His fetish consists of some sheets of paper and a paper
bag containing as many spoonfuls of rice as the household
is years old on the day when the mu-tang suspends it to
the cross-beam of the house.
The ceremony of his inauguration was conducted as
follows in the case of a householder who was at once a
scholar, a noble, a rich man, and the headman of a large
village. A lucky day having been chosen by divination,
the noble, after grading the site for his house, erected the
framework, and with great ceremony attached such a
fetish, duly prepared by the Pan-su, to the cross-beam.
Prostrations and invocations marked this stage. When
the building of the house was completed, an auspicious
day was again chosen by divination, and a great ceremony
was performed by the mtc-tang for the enshrining of the
daemon in the home. The mu-tang arranged the ceremonial
and prepared the offerings, and then with a special wand,
only used on these occasions, called the spirit who is
supposed to be under her control, and returning to the
house solemnly enshrined him in the fetish, to which it is
correct to add a fresh sheet of paper every year. After
SoTig Ju was supposed to have had time to feed spiritually
on the offerings, they were placed before the guests, and a
great entertainment followed.
Ti Ju, or the lord of the site, is the next great dsemon,
but investigations regarding him have been very resultless.
Little is known, except that offerings are presented to him
XXXV FAMILY DEMONS 247
at some spot on the premises, but not inside the house.
These offerings, which are of food, are made on the 1st,
2nd, 3rd, and 15th of each month. This food is afterwards
eaten by the family, and a continual offering is represented
by a bit of cloth or a scrap of old rope. His fetish is a
bundle of straw, empty inside, placed on three sticks, but
in some circumstances a flower-pot with some rice inside
is substituted.
Ojp Ju, the kitchen daemon, is the third of the trio which
are permanently attached to the house. His fetish is a
piece of cloth or paper nailed to the wall above the cooking
place.
After these come the daemons who are attached to the
family and not the house, the first of them being Cho Warig,
a spirit of the constellation of the Great Bear, a very
popular spirit. His shrine is outside the wall, and his
fetish, to which worship is paid, is a gourd full of cloth
and paper. Gho Wang is often the daemon familiar of a
mu'tang.
Ti Ju, No. 2, is the fate or luck of the family, and every
household is ambitious to secure hinL His fetish is a
straw booth three feet high, in which is a flower-pot con-
taining some rice covered with a stone and paper. .
The greatest of the family daemons is an ancient and
historical daemon, Choi Sok, who is regarded as the grand-
father of San Chin-chm Sok, the daemon of nativity. His
fetish, unless it becomes rotten or is accidentally destroyed,
descends from father to son. He has several fetishes, and
when he receives homage at the Triennial Festival, the
mtirtang^vLtQ on the dress of an official He is the daemon
of nativity and the giver of posterity, and is a triple
/.'..'<
250 D.£MONISM IN KOREA ohap.
25. Spirits which roam about the house causing all sorts of
calamities.
26. Spirits which cause a man to die away from home.
27. Spirits which cause men to die as substitutes for others.
28. Spirits which cause men to die by strangulation.
29. Spirits which cause men to die by drowning.
30. Spirits which cause women to die in childbirth.
31. Spirits which cause men to die by suicide.
32. Spirits which cause men to die by fire.
33. Spirits which cause men to die by being beaten.
34. Spirits which cause men to die by fedls.
35. Spirits which cause men to die by pestilence.
36. Spirits which cause men to die by cholera.
The belief in the efficacy of the performances of the
mu'tang is enormous. In sickness the very poor half
starve themselves and pawn their clothing to pay for her
exorcisms. Her power has been riveted upon the country
for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The order is said
to date back 4000 years, and to have been called in China,
where it was under official regulations, mu-ham. Five
himdred years ago the foimder of the present dynasty
prohibited rrm-tang from living within the wadls of Seoul
— Whence their houses and temples are foimd outside the
city walls.
Women are not mu-tang by birth, but of late years it
has become customary for the girl children of a sorceress
to go out with her and learn her arts, which is tending to
give the profession a hereditary aspect. It is now recruited
partly in this feishion, partly from among hysterical girls,
and partly for a livelihood ; but outside of these sources, a
daemon may take possession of any woman, wife, maid, or
widow, rich or poor, plebeian or patrician, and compel her
XXXV D^EMONIACAL POSSESSION 261
to serve him. At the beginning of the possession she
becomes either slightly or seriously ill, and her illness may
last four weeks or three years, during which time she
dreams of a dragon, a rainbow, peach trees in blossom, or of
a man in armour who is suddenly metamorphosed into an
animal Under the influence of these dreams she becomes
like an insane person, and when awake sees many curious
things, and before long speaks as an oracle of the spirits.
She then informs her family that messengers from
Heaven, Earth, and the Lightning have informed her that
if she is not allowed to practise exorcism, they or their
domestic animals will die. Should they insist on secluding
her, her illness shortly terminates fatally. If a daughter
of a noble family becomes possessed, they probably make
away with her, in the idea that if madness takes this turn,
the disgrace would be indelible.
But things usually go smoothly, and on being allowed
to have her own way the first thing she does is to go into
a vacant room and fill it with flowers as an offering to the
daemons. Then she must obtain the clothing and pro-
fessional paraphernalia of a deceased mu4ang. The clothing
may be destroyed after the daemon has taken full possession
of his new recruit, but the drums and other instnmients
must be retained. After the possessions of the deceased^'
mu'tang have been bestowed on the new one who claims
them, she proceeds to exorcise such bad spirits as may be
infesting the donor^s house, so as to enable his family to
live in peace, after which she writes his name on a tablet,
and placing it in a small room invokes blessings on him
for three years.
After this ceremonial has been observed, the mu-tang,
252 DiEMONISM IN KOREA chap.
fully possessed by a daemon, begins to exercise her very
important and lucrative profession. Her equipment con-
sists of a number of dresses, some of them very costly, a
drum shaped like an hoiir glass, four feet in length, copper
cymbals, a copper rod, with tinklers suspended from it by
copper chains, strips of silk and paper banners which float
roimd her as she dances, fans, umbrellas, wands, images of
men and animals, brass or copper gongs, and a pair of
telescope -shaped baskets for scratching, chiefly used in
cases of cholera, which disease is supposed to result from
rats climbing about in the human interior. The scratching
sound made by a peculiar use of these baskets, which
resembles the noise made by cats, is expected to scare and
drive away these rodents.
The preliminaries of exorcism are that the mu-tang
must subject herself to certain restraints varying from a
month to three days, during which time she must abstain
from flesh and fish, and must partially fast. Before an
exorcism ashes are steeped in water and the sorceress
takes of this, and sprinkles it as she walks roimd the house,
afterwards taking pure water and going through the same
ceremony.
The almost fabulous sums squeezed by the mu-tang out
of the people of Seoul are given in a previous chapter.
It will be observed that in Korea sickness is always
associated with dsemoniacal possession, and that the ser-
vices of the Pan-sv,, or mu-taTig, are always requisitioned.
European medicine and surgery are the most successful
assailants of this barbarous and degrading system which
holds the whole nation, in many respects highly civilised,
in bondage, and the influence of both as practised in con-
XXXV A ROYAL D-fiMON 263
nection with " Medical Missions " is tending increasingly
in the direction of emancipation.
It would be impossible to say how far the mu-tang is
self-deceived. In some of her dances, especially in one in
which she exorcises " The daemon of the Yi family," one of
the most powerful and malignant of the daemon hierarchy,
she works herself into such a delirious frenzy that she
falls down foaming at the mouth, and death is occasionally
the result of the frantic excitement.
The " Daemon of the Yi Family '* is invoked in every
district once in three years by the mu-tang in a formula
which has been translated thus — " Master and Mistress
of our Kingdom, may you ever exist in peace. Once in
every three years we invoke you with music and dancing.
Oh make this house to be peaceful" K this malignant
spirit arrives at a house he can only be appeased by the
death of a man, an ox, or a pig. Therefore when the mu-
tang becomes aware that he has come to a house or
neighbourhood, a pig is at once killed, boiled, and offered
up entire — the exorcist takes two knives and dances a
sword-dance, working herself into a "fine frenzy," after
which a box is made and a Korean official hat and robes
are placed within it, as well as a dress suitable for a palace
lady. The box is then placed on the top of the family
clothes chest, and sacrifices are frequently offered there.
This daemon is regarded as the spirit of a rebellious Crown
Prince, the sole object of whose daemon existence is to
injure all with whom he can come into contact.
A man sometimes marries a mu-tang, but he is invari-
ably " a fellow of the baser sort," who desires to live in
idleness on the earnings of his wife. If, as is occasionally
264 DiEMONISM IN KOREA chap, xxxv
the case, the mvAarig belongs to a noble family, she is
only allowed to exorcise spirits in her own house, and
when she dies she is buried in a hole in a mountain-side
with the whole paraphernalia of her profession. Some
mu-tarig do not go abroad for purposes of exorcism. These
may be regarded as the aristocracy of their profession, and
many of them are of much repute and live in the suburbs
of SeouL Those who desire their services send the
necessary money and oiferings, and the mu-tang exorcise
the spirits in their own houses.
The use of straw ropes, and of pieces of paper
resembling the Shinto gohei, during incantations, with a
certain similarity between the Shinto and the Shaman
ceremonies, might suggest a common origin; but our
knowledge of the Daemonism of Korea is so completely in
its infancy, that any speculations as to its kinships can be
of little value, and it is only as a very slight contribution
to the sum of knowledge of an obscure but very interesting
subject, that I venture to present these chapters to my
readers.
The Koreans, it must be remarked, have no single word
for Daemonism or Shamanism. The only phrase in use to
express their belief in daemons who require to be pro-
pitiated is, Kur-dn wi han-nan Kot (the worship of Spirits).
Pvlto is Buddhism, Tuto Confucianism, and SorUo Taoism,
but the termination To, " doctrine," has not yet been aflBxed
to Daemonism.
CHAPTEE XXXVI
SEOUL IN 1897^
It was midnight when, by the glory of an October full
moon, I arrived from Chemulpo at the foot of the rugged
slope crowned with the irregular, lofty, battlemented city
wall and picturesque double-roofed gateway of the Gate of
Staunch Loyalty which make the western entrance to the
Korean capital so unique and attractive. An arrangement
had been made for the opening of the gate, and after a
long parley between the faithful Im and the guard, the
heavy iron-bolted door creaked back before the united
efforts of ten men, and I entered Seoul, then under the
authority of Ye Cha Yim, an energetic and enlightened
Governor, under whose auspices the western part of the
city has lost the refuse heaps and foulness, with their con-
comitant odours, which were its chief characteristic. In
the streets and lanes not a man, dog, or cat stirred, and
not a light glimmered from any casement ; but when I
reached Chong-dong, the foreign quarter, I observed that
^ I left Korea for China at Christmas 1895, and after spending six
months in travelling in the Chinese Far West, and three months among the
Nan-tai San mountains in Japan, returned in the middle of October "^
1896, and remained in Seoul until late in the winter of 1896-97.
y
256 SEOUL IN 1897 chap.
the lower extremity of every road leading in the direction
of the Eussian Legation was irregularly guarded by several
slouching Korean sentries, gossiping in knots as they leaned
on their rifles.
The grounds of my host's house open on those of the
King's new palace, and the King and Crown Prince,
attended by large retinues, were constantly carried through
them on their way from their asylum in the Bussian
Legation to perform the customary rites at the spirit
shrine, to which the fragmentary remain^ of the murdered
Queen had been removed, to wait until the geomancers
could decide on an "auspicious" site for her grave, the
one which had been prepared for her at an enormous
expense some miles outside the city having just been
pronoimced "unlucky."
A few days after my arrival the King went to the
Kyeng-wun Palace to receive a Japanese prince, and
courteously arranged to give me an audience afterwards,
to which I went, attended, as on the last occasion, by the
British Legation interpreter. The entrances were guarded
by a number of slouching sentries in Japanese uniforms.
Their hair, which had been cropped at the time of the
abolition of the " top-knot," had grown again, and hung
in heavy shocks behind their ears, giving them a semi-
barbarous appearance. At the second gate I alighted, no
chair being permitted to enter, and walked to a very simple
audience hall, then used for the first time, about 20 feet by
12 feet, of white wood, with lattice doors and windows,
both covered with fine white paper, and with fine white
mats on the floor.
The King and Crown Prince, both of whom were in
XXXVI A ROYAL RECEPTION 267
deep mourning, i,e. in pure white robes with sleeveless
dresses of exquisitely fine buff grass-cloth over them, andfine
buff crinoline hats, stood together at the upper end of the
room, surrounded by eunuchs, court ladies, including the
reigning favouriteSy the ladies Pak and Om, and Court
functionaries, all in mourning, the whole giving one an
impression of absolute spotlessness. The waists of the
voluminous white skirts of the ladies, which are a yard too
long for them all round, were as high up as it was possible
to place them.
The King and Crown Prince bowed and smiled. I
made the required three curtseys to each, and the inter-
preter adopted the deportment required by Court etiquette,
crouching, looking down, and speaking in an awe-struck
whisper. I had not seen the King for two years, a period
of great anxiety and vicissitude to him, but he was not
looking worn or older, and when I congratulated him on
his personal security and the resumption of his regal
functions he expressed himself cordially in reply, with an
air of genuine cheerfulness. In the brief conversation
which followed the Crown Prince took part, and showed
a fair degree of intelligence, as well as a much-improved
physique.
Later I had two informal audiences of the King in his
house in the centre of the mass of the new buildings of the
Kyeng-wun Palace. It is a detached Korean dwelling
of the best Korean workmanship, with a deep-eaved, tiled
roof, the carved beams of which are elaborately painted,
and their terminals decorated with the five-petalled plum
blossom, the dynastic emblem. The house consists of a
hall with a kang floor, divided into one large and two
VOL. n s
y
268 SEOUL IN 1897 chap.
small rooms by sliding and removable partitions of firet-
work, fiUed in with fine tissue paper, the windows which
occupy the greater part of both sides being of the same
construction. The very small rooms at each end are
indicated as the sleeping apartments of the King and his
son by pale blue silk mattresses laid upon the fine white
mats which cover the whole floor. The only furniture was
two ten-leaved white screens. The fastenings of the
windows and partitions are of very fine Korean brasswork.
Simplicity could not go further.
Opposite is the much-adorned spirit shrine of the late
Queen, connected with the house by a decorated gallery.
The inner palace enclosure, where these buildings are, is
very small, and behind the King's house rises into a stone
terrace. Numerous as is the Bang's guard, it is evident
that he fears to rely upon it solely, for of two gates
leading from his house one opens into quarters occupied hy
Bussian officers, who arrived in Seoul in the autumn oi
1890, at the King's request, for purposes of militarj
organisation ; and the other into small barracks occupiec
by the Bussian drill -instructors of the Korean army
Through the former he could reach the grounds of th<
English Legation in one minute, and after his forme
experiences possibilities of escape must be his first con
sideration. The small buildings of this new palace wer
already crowded like a rabbit warren, and when complete
will contain over 1000 people, including the bodyguarc
eunuchs, and Court officials innumerable, writers, readen
palace ladies, palace women, and an immense establishmer
of cooks, runners, servants, and all the superabundant cm
useless mtowrage of an Eastern Sovereign, to whom crowc
XXXVI A ROYAL PHOTOGRAPH 259
and movement represent power. This congeries of build-
ings was carefully guarded, and even the Korean soldier
who attended on me was not allowed to pass the gate.
The King hadgiven me permission to take his photograph
for Queen Victoria, and I was arranging the room for the
purpose when the interpreter shouted " His Majesty," and
almost before I could step back and curtsey, the King and
Crown Prince entered, followed by the Ofl&cers of the
Household and several of the Ministers, a posse of the
new-fangled police crowding the verandah outside. The
Sovereign, always courteous, asked if I would like to take
one of the portraits in his royal robea The rich crimson
brocade and the gold-embroidered plastrons on his breast
and shoulders became him well, and his pose was not
deficient in dignity. He took some trouble to arrange the
Crown Prince to the best advantfige, but the result was
unsuccessfuL After the operation was over he examined
the different parts of the camera with interest, and seemed
specially cheerfuL
At a farewell audience some weeks later the King
reverted to the subject of a British Minister, accredited
solely to Korea ; and the interpreter added, as an aside,
"His Majesty is very anxious about this." He hardly
seemed to realise that, even if a change in the representation
were contemplated, it could scarcely be carried out while
Sir Claude Macdonald, who is accredited to both Courts,
remains Minister at Peking.
The Eling was for more than a year the guest of the
Bussian Legation, an arrangement most distasteful to a
large number of his subjects, who naturally regarded it as
a national humiliation that their Sovereign should be
260 SEOUL IN 1897 chap.
under the protection of a foreign flag. Eumours of plots
for removing him to the Palace from which he escaped
were rife, and there were days on which he feared to visit
the Queen's tablet-house unless Bussian officers walked
beside his chair.
Mr. Waeber, the Kussian Minister, had then been in
Korea twelve years. He is an able and faithful servant
of Eussia. He was trusted by the King and the whole
foreign community, and up to the time of the Eegira had
been a warm and judicious friend of the Koreans. His
guidance might have prevented the King from making
infamous appointments and arbitrary arrests, from cause-
lessly removing officials who were working well, and from
such reckless extravagances as a costly Embassy to the
European Courts and a foolish increase of the army and
police force. But he remained passive, allowing the
Koreans to "stew in their own juice," acting possibly
under orders from home to give Korea " rope enough to
hang herself," a proceeding which might hereafter give
Bussia a legitimate excuse for interference. Apart from
such instructions, it must remain an inscrutable mystery
why so excellent a man and so capable a diplomatist when
absolutely master of the situation neglected to aid the
Sovereign with his valuable advice, a course which would
have met with the cordial approval of all his colleagues.
Be that as it may, the liberty which the King has
enjoyed at the Bussian Legation and since has not been
for the advantage of Korea, cmd recent policy contrasts
unfavourably with that pursued during the period of
Japanese ascendency, which, on the whole, was in the
direction of progress and righteoosnesa
XXXVI THE KING^S LIBERTY 261
Old abuses cropped up daily, Ministers and other
favourites sold offices unblushingly, and when specific
charges were made against one of the King's chief
favourites, the formal demand for his prosecution was
met by making him Vice -Minister of Education! The
King, freed from the control of the mutinous officers and
usurping Cabinet of 8th October 1895, from the Queen's
strong though often unscrupulous guidance, and from
Japanese ascendency, and finding himself personally safe,
has reverted to some of the worst traditions of his dynasty,
and in spite of certain checks his edicts are again law and
his will absolute. And it is a will at the mercy of any
designing person who gets hold of him and can work upon
his fears and his desire for money — of the ladies Pdk and
OrrVy who assisted him in his flight, and of favourites and
sycophants low and many, who sell or bestow on members
of their families offices they have little difficulty in obtain-
ing from his pliable good nature. With an ample Civil
list and large perquisites he is the most impecunious
person in his dominions, for in common with all who
occupy official positions in Korea he is surrounded by
hosts of grasping parasites and hangers-on, for ever
clamouring " Give, Give."
Men were thrown into prison without reason, some of
the worst of the canaille were made Ministers of State,
the murderer of Kim Ok-yun was appointed Master of'
Ceremony, and a convicted criminal, a man whose life has
been one career of sordid crime, was made Minister of
Justice. Consequent upon the surreptitious sale of
offices, the seizure of revenue on its way to the Treasury,
the appointment of men to office for a few days, to give
262 SEOUL IN 1897 OHAP.
them " rank " and to enable them to quarter on the public
purse a host of impecunious relations and friends, and the
custom among high officials of resigning office on the
occasion of the smallest criticism, the administration is in
a state of constant chaos, and the ofttimes well-meaning
but always vacillating Sovereign, absolute without an idea
of how to rule, the sport of favourites usually unworthy,
who work upon his amiability, the prey of greedy parasites,
and occasionally the tool of foreign adventurers, paralyses
all good government by destroying the elements of
permanence, and renders economy and financial reform
difficult and spasmodic by consenting to schemes of reck-
less extravagance urged upon him by interested schemers.
Never has the King made such havoc of reigning as
since he regained his freedom under the roof of the
Bussian Embassy.
I regret to have to write anything to the King's dis-
advantage. Personally I have found him truly courteous
and kind, as he is to all foreigners. He has amiable
characteristics, and I beUeve a certain amount of patriotic
feeling. But as he is an all-important element of the
present and future condition of Korea, it would be mislead-
ing and dishonest to pass over without remark such
characteristics of his chauracter and rule as are disastrous
to Korea, bearing in mind in extenuation of them that
he is the product of five centuries of a dynastic tradition
which has practically taught that public business and the
interests of the country mean for the Sovereign simply
getting offices and pay for favourites, and that statesman-
ship consists in playing off one Minister against another.
Novelties in the Seoul streets were the fine physique
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XXXVI KUSSIA EN EVIDENGE 263
and long grey uniforms of Colonel Putiata and his sub-
ordinates, three officers and ten drill- instructors, who
arrived to drill and discipline the Korean army, the
American military adviser having proved a failure,
while the troops drilled by the Japanese were mutinous
and rapacious, and the Japanese drill-instructors had
retired with the rest of the rSgime. This "Military
Commission" was doing its work with characteristic
vigour and thoroughness, and the flat -faced, pleasant-
looking non-commissioned officers, with their drilled
slouch, serviceable imiforms, and long boots, were always
an attraction to the crowd. A novelty, too, was the sight
of the Korean cadet corps of thirty-seven young men of
good families and seven officers, marching twice daily
between the drill-ground of the Korean troops close to
the Kyeng-pok Palace and their own barracks behind the
Eussian Legation, with drums beating and colours flying.
These young men, who are to receive a two years' military
education from Eussian officers, are under severe discipline,
and were greatly surprised to find that servants were a
prohibited luxury, and that their training involved the
cleaning and keeping bright of their own rifles and
accoutrements, and hard work for many hours of the day.
The army now consists of 4300 men in Seoul, 800 of
whom are drilled as a bodyguard for the King, and 1200
in the provinces, in Japanese uniforms, and equipped (so
far as they go) with 3000 Berdan rifles presented by
Eussia to Korea. The drill and words of command are
Eussian.
A standing army of 2000 men would have been
sufficient for all purposes in Korea, and as far as her need
264 SEOUL IN 1897 ohjp.
goes an army of 6000 is an imblushiog extravagance and
_ji heavy drain on her resourcea. It ia moat probable that
a force drilled and armed by KusBia, accustomed to obey
Russian ordeiB and animated by an intense hereditary
hatred of Japan, would
prove a valuable corps
d!arm4e to Russia iu the
event of wir with that
ambitious and restless
empire
llie old l^JiU or gevs-
£armes with then pictur-
esque dresses and long red
plumes are now only to
be seen and that rarely,
in attend mce on officials
of the Korean Govern-
_ ment Seoul is now
pohced much overpoliced,
foi it has a force of 1200
men when a quarter of
that number would be
sufficient foi its orderly
population E\ ery where
numbers of slouching men
on and off duty, in Japanese semi-military uniforms, with
shocks of hair behind their ears and swords in nickel-
plated scabbards by their sides, suggest useless and extra-
v^ant expenditure. The soldiers and police, by an unwist
arrangement made by the Japanese, and now scarcely
possible to alter, are enormously overpaid, the soldiers
xxxTt KOR&AN SOUUKtiS ANh IMI.h'K
reoei%'iDg five dollam Aiul « hull' tk moitll), " itU rt»ttt(t," nitij^
the police from eight to ten, oiilj^ Hiiilti))! l\wiv rkxul Ttvi
Korean army is itbovil Iho iiuwt IukIiIj' |iitlil tit t)ti> WdlKlil
The average Kofoau in hin ^ix'itl U^ny y\i»»it'\'*, )iltlli)l
perishable, brond-brimiuuii hal, i>u|Mki>U'ii<t hIiuivdn, itiiil l>«l||l
flapping whilo conl, i»
usually & docilo uiid linrtii-
lesa mail; but Eurii]ittii)
clothes aud aniut traiiHrunti
him into a Lruculunt, iil>
subordinate, and of'ttiiiiiM
brutal person, without civic
sympathies or patnotimir,
greedy of power and fi|K>iI.
DetacbmcDta of iK'tIdi<>rii
seattered tbrouKh thu
eosmtxj ware a terror to ^]
t people ftrm\ th*ir
.f «i>»bMMMI tMtflKl
266 SEOUL m 1897 chap.
channels on both sides, bridged by stone slabs, had replaced
the foul alleys, which were breeding-grounds of cholera.
Narrow lanes had been widened, slimy runlets had been
paved, roadways were no longer " free coups " for refuse,
bicyclists " scorched " along broad, level streets, " express
waggons " were looming in the near future, preparations
were being made for the building of a French hotel in a
fine situation, shops with glass fronts had been erected in
numbers, an order forbidding the throwing of refuse into
the streets was enforced, — refuse matter is now removed
from the city by official scavengers, and Seoul, from having
been the foulest is now on its way to being the cleanest
city of the Far East !
This extraordinary metamorphosis was the work of four
months, and is due to the energy and capacity of the Chief
Commissioner of Customs, ably seconded by the capable
and intelligent Governor of the city, Ye Cha Yun, who
had acquainted himself with the working of municipal
affairs in Washington, and who with a rare modesty refused
to take any credit to himself for the city improvements,
saying that it was all due to Mr. M'Leavy Brown.
Old Seoul, with its festering alleys, its winter accumula-
tions of every species of filth, its ankle-deep mud and its
foulness,which lacked the redeeming elementof picturesque-
ness, is being fast improved off the face of the earth. Yet
it is chiefly a restoration, for the dark, narrow alleys which
lingered on till the autumn of 1896 were but the result of
gradual encroachments on broad roadways, the remains of
the marginal channels of which were discovered.
What was done (and is being done) was to pull down
the houses, compensate their owners, restore the old
SEOUL BEDIVIVVS
267
I
:haiiiielB, and insist that the houses should be rebuilt at
a uniform distance behind them. Along the fine broad
streets thus restored tiled roofs have largely replaced
thatch, in many cases the lower parts of the walla have
been rebuilt of stone instead of wattle, and attempts at
decoration and neatness are apparent in many of the house
and shop fronts, while many of the smoke-holes, which
vomit forth the smoke of the kang fires directly into the
street, are now fitted with glittering chimneys, constructed
out of American kerosene tins.
Some miles of broad streets are now available as pro-
menades, and are largely taken advantage of; business
looked much brisker than formerly, the shops made more
display, and there was an air of greater prosperity, which
has been taken advantage of by the Hong-Kong and
Shanghai Bank, which has opened a branch at Chemulpo,
and will probably ere long appear in the capital.
It is not, however, only in the making of broad thorough-
fares that the improvement consists. Very many of the
narrow lanes have been widened, their roadways curved
and gravelled, and stone gutters have been built along the
sides, in some cases by the people themselves. Along with
much else, the pungent, peculiar odour of Seoul has vanished,
Sanitary regulations are enforced, and civilisation has
reached such a height that the removal of the anow from
the front of the bouses is compulsory on all householders.
So great is the change that I searched in vain for any
remaining representative slum which I might photographfor
this chapter as an illustration of Seoul in 1894. It must be
remarked, however, that the capital is being reconstructed
on Korean lines, and is not being Europeanised
268 SEOUL IN 1897 chap.
Chong-dong, however, the quarter devoted to Foreign
Legations, Consulates, and Mission agencies, would have
nearly ceased to be Korean had not the King set down the
Kyeng-wun Palace with its crowded outbuildings in the
midst of the foreign residences. Most of the native
inhabitants have been bought out. Wide roads with foreign
shops have been constructed. The French have built a
Legation on a height, which vies in grandeur with that of
Bussia, and the American Methodist Episcopal Mission
has finished a large red brick church, which, like the
Boman Cathedral, can be seen from all quarters.
The picturesque Peking Pass, up and down whose
narrow, rugged pathway generations of burdened baggage
animals toiled and suffered, and which had seen the
splendours of successive Chinese Imperial Envoys at the
accession of the Korean Kings, has lost its identity. Its
rock ledges, holes, and boulders have disappeared — the
rocky gash has been mdened, and the sides chiselled
into smoothness, and under the auspices of the Bussian
Minister a broad road, with retaining walls and fine
culverts, now carries the traffic over the lowered height.
Many other changes were noticeable. The Tai-won
Kun, for so many years one of the chief figures in Korean
politics, was practically a prisoner in his own palace. The
Eastern and Western Palaces, with their enormous accom-
modation and immense pleasure-grounds, were deserted,
and were already beginning to decay. The Japanese
soldiers had vacated the barracks so long occupied by
them close to the Kyeng-pok Palace, and, reduced to the
modest numbers of a Legation-guard, were quartered in
the Japanese settlement ; parties of missionaries who had
"1
XXXVI A KOREAN ESTIMATE OF FOREIGNERS 269
hived ofif from Chong-dong were occupying groups of houses
in various parts of the capital, and there was a singular
" boom " in schools, accompanied by a military craze, which
* aflfected not the scholars only, but the boys of Seoul
generally.
But it must be remarked in connection with educa-
tion in Korea that so lately as the close of 1896 a book,
called G(mfvmanist Scholars* Handbook of the Latitudes and
LongitudeSy had been edited by Sin Ki Sun, Minister of
Education, prefaced by two Councillors of the Education
Department, and published at Government expense, in
which the following sentences occur : —
P. 52 : " Europe is too far away from the centre of
civilisation, t.a the Middle Kingdom; hence Russians,
Turks, English, French, Germans, and Belgians look more
like birds and beasts than men, and their languages sound
like the chirping of fowls."
Again : " According to the views of recent generations,
what westerners call the Christian Eeligion is vulgar,
shallow, and erroneous, and is an instance of the vileness
of Barbarian customs, which are notworthy of serious discus-
sion. . . . They worship the heavenly spirits, but do not
sacrifice to parents, they insult heaven in every way, and
overturn the social relations. This is truly a type of
Barbarian vileness, and is not worthy of treatment in our
review of foreign customs, especially as at this time the
religion is somewhat on the wane.
" Europeans have planted their spawn in every country
of the globe except China. All of them honour this
religion (!), but we are surprised to find that the Chinese
scholars and people have not escaped contamination by it."
270 SEOUL IN 1897 chap.
On p. 42 it is said : " Of late the so-called Ye Su Kyo
(Christianity) has been trying to contaminate the world
with its barbarous teachings. It deceives the masses by
its stories of Heaven and Hell : it interferes with the rites
of ancestral worship, and interdicts the custom of bowing
before the gods of Heaven and Earth. These are the ravings
of a disordered intellect, and are not worth discussing."
P. 50 : " How grand and glorious is the Empire of
China, the Middle Kingdom! She is the largest and
richest in the world. The grandest men of the world have
all come from the Middle Empire."
This tirade from an official pen was thought worthy of
a remonstrance from the foreign representatives.
The graceful Pai-low, near the Peking Pass, at which
generations of Korean kings had publicly acknowledged
Chinese suzerainty by awaiting there the Imperial Envoy
who came to invest them with regal rights, was removed,
and during my sojourn the foundation of an arch to com-
memorate the assumption of Independence by Korea in
January 1895 was laid near the same spot, in presence of
a vast concourse of white-robed men. An Independence
Club, with a disused Royal Pavilion near the stumps of
the Pai'Um for its Club House, had been established to
commemorate and conserve the national autonomy, and
though the entrance fee is high, had already a membership
of 2000.
After a number of patriotic speeches had been made on
the occasion of the laying of the foundation of the independ-
ence arch, the Club entertained the Foreign Legations and
all the foreign residents at a rechercJU " collation " in this
building ; speeches were made both by Koreans and the
THE SEOUL PRESS S
Foreign Eepresentativea, and an extraordinary innovation
was introduced. "Waiters were dispensed with, and the
Committee of the Club, the Governor of Seoul, and several
of the Ministers of State themselves attended upon the
guests with much grace and courtesy.
One of the most important events in Seoul was the
eatablishment in April 1896 by Dr. Jaiaohn of the Indt-
pmdeTit, a two-page tri-weekly newspaper in English and
the Korean script, enlarged early in 1897 to four pages,
and published separately in each language. Only those
who have formed some idea of the besotted ignorance of the
Korean concerning current events in his own country, and
of the credulity which makes bim the victim of every
rumour set afloat in the capital, can appreciate the
significance of this step and its probable effect in enlighten-
ing the people, and in creating a public opinion which shall
eit in judgment on regal and official misdeeds. It is
already fulfilling an important function in unearthing
abuses and dragging them into daylight, and is creating
a desire for rational education and reasonable reform,
and is becoming something of a terror to evil-doers. Dr.
Jaisohn (So Chia P'il) ia a Korean gentleman educated
in America, and has the welfare of his country thoroughly
at heart.
The sight of newsboys passing through the streets with
bundles of a newspaper in En-mun under their arms, and
of men reading them in their shops, is among the novelties
of 1897. Besides the Independ-ent, there are now in Seoul
two weeklies in En-mun, the Korean Christian Advocate,
and the Christian News; and the Korean Independence
Club publishes a monthly magazine. The Chosen, dealing
272 SEOUL IN 1897 chap.
with politics, science, and foreign news, which has 2000
subscribers. Seoul has also a paper, the Kanjo Shimio,
or SeotU News, in mixed Japanese and Korean script,
published on alternate days, and there are newspapers in
the Japanese language, both in Fusan and Chemulpo. All
these, and the admirable Korean Repository, are the growth
of the last three years.
The faculty of combination, by which in Korea as in
China the weak find some measure of protection against
the strong, is being turned to useful account. This Kyei,
or principle of association, which represents one of the
most noteworthy features of Korea, develops into insur-
ance companies, mutual benefit associations, money-lending
syndicates, tontines, marriage and burial clubs, great
trading guilds, and many others.
With its innumerable associations, only a few of which
I have alluded to, Korean life is singularly complex ; and
the Korean business world is far more fully organised than
ours, nearly all the traders in the country being members
of guilds, powerfully bound together, and having the
common feature of mutual helpfulness in time of need.
This habit of united action, and the measure of honesty
which is essential to the success of combined undertaldngs,
supply the framework on which various joint-stock com-
panies are being erected, among which one of the most
important is a tannery. Korean hides have hitherto been
sent to Japan to be manufactured, owing to caste and
superstitious prejudices against working in leather. The
establishment of this company, which brought over
Japanese instructors to teach the methods of manufacture,
has not only made an end of a foolish prejudice, in the
XXXVI KOREAN LAW COURTS 273
capital at least, but is opening a very lucrative industry,
and others are following.
As may be expected in an Oriental country, the ad-
ministration of law in Korea is on the whole infamoua
It may be said that a body of law has yet to be created, as
well as the judges who shall administer it equably. A
mixed Committee of Bevision has been appointed, but the
Korean members show a marked tendency to drop off, and
no legal reform, solely the work of foreigners, would carry
weight with the people. Mr. Greathouse, a capable
lawyer and legal adviser to the Law Department, has been
able to prevent some infamous transactions, but on the
whole the Seoul Law Court does little more than administer
injustice and receive bribes. Of the two Law Courts of
the capital, the Supreme Court, under the supervision of
the Minister and Vice-Minister of Justice, and in which
the foreign adviser sits with the judges to advise in
important cases, is the more hopeful; yet one of the
most disgraceful of late appointments has been in connec-
tion with this department. The outrageous decisions, the
gross bribery, and the axitual atrocities of the Seoul Court
are likely to bring about its abolition, and I will not
enlarge upon them.
One of the most striking changes introduced into the
Seoul of 1897 is the improvement in the prison, which is
greatly owing to Mr. A. B. Stripling, formerly of the
Shanghai Police, who, occupying a position as adviser to
the Police Department, is carrying out prison reforms,
originally suggested by the Japanese, in a humane and
enlightened manner. Torture has disappeared from the
great city prison, but there were dark rumours that some
V0L.n T
274 SEOUL IN 1897 chap.
of the political prisoners, so lately as January 1897, were
subjected to it elsewhera
My experience of Eastern prisons, chiefly in Asia Minor,
China, Persia, and a glimpse of a former prison in Seoul,
have given me a vivid impression of the contrast presented
by the present system. Suirounding a large quadrangle,
with the chief gaoler's house in the centre, the rooms, not
to be called cells, are large, airy, light, and well ventilated,
with boarded floors covered with mats, and plenty of air
space below. It is true that on the day I visited them
some of the prisoners were shivering, and shivered more
vigorously as an appeal to my compassion, but then the
mercury was at IS'' F., and this is not a usual temperature.
They have a large bathroom with a stove on the Japanese
plan. Their diet consists of a pint of excellent soup
twice a day, with a large bowl of rice, and those who go
out to work get a third meal This ample diet costs l^d.
per day.
There were from twelve to eighteen prisoners in each
ordinary room, and fifty were awaiting trial in one roomy
halL A few under sentence, two of them to death, wore
long wooden cangv^es, but I did not see any fetters. They
are allowed to bring in their own mattresses, mats, and
pillows for extra comfort. On the whole they were clean,
cleaner than the ordinary coolies outsida A perforated
wooden bar attached to the floor, with another with
corresponding perforations above it, secures the legs of the
prisoners at night. The sick were lying thickly on the
hot floor of a room very imperfectly lighted, but probably
the well would have been glad to change with them.
There were 225 prisoners altogether, all men. Classifi-
xxxvi THE CITY PRISON 275
cation is still in the future. Murderers and pilferers
occupied the same room, and colonels of raiments accused
of a serious conspiracy were with convicted felons, who
might or might not be acting as spies and informers ; a
very fine-looking man, sentenced for Life, the first magis-
trate in Korea ever convicted and punished for bribery,
and that on the complaint of a simple citizen, was in a
''cell" with criminals wearing cangues. Some of the
sentences seemed out of proportion to the ofiences, as, for
instance, a feeble old man was immured for three years for
cutting and carrying off pine brush for fuel, and an old
blind man of some position was incarcerated for ten years
for the violation of a grave under circumstances of pro-
vocation.
Much has been done in the way of prison reform, and
much remains to be done, specially in the direction of
classification, but still the great Seoul prison contrasts
most fevourably with the prisons of China and other unre-
formed Oriental countries. Torture is at least nominally
abolished, and brutal exposures of severed heads and
headless trunks, and beating and slicing to death, were
made an end of during the ascendency of Japan. After
an afternoon in the prison of Seoul, I could hardly believe
it possible that only two years before I had seen severed
hmnan heads hanging from tripod stands and lying on the
ground in the throng of a business street, and headless
bodies lying in their blood on the road outside the East
Gate.
To mention the changes in Seoul would take another
chapter. Dr. Allen, now U.S. Minister to Korea, said that
Hie last four months of 1896 had seen more alterations
276 SEOUL IN 1897 chap.xxxvi
than the previous twelve years of his residence in the
countrfr, and the three months of my last visit brought
something new every week.
On October 12th, 1897» the King, with solemn cere-
monies at the altar of Heaven, assumed the title of
Emperor, and afterwards announced that in future Korea
would be known as Dai Han, Great Han«
As a foil to so much that is indicative of progress, I
conclude this chapter by mentioning, on the authority of
the Governor of Seoul, that in January 1897 there were in
the capital a thousand mu-tang, or sorceresses, earning on
an average fifteen dollars a month each, representing an
annual expenditure by that single city of a hundred and
eighty thousand dollars on dealings with the spirits, exclu-
sive of the large sums paid to the blind sorcerers for their
services, and to the geomancers, whose claims on the occa-
sion of the interment of any one of rank and wealth are
simply monstrous.
CHAPTER XXXVII
LAST WOBDS OK KOREA
Tex patient reader has now learned with me something
of Korean history during the last three years, as well as
of the reorganised methods of government, and the eduea-
tion, trade, and finance of the country. He has also by
proxy travelled in the interior, and has Uved among the
peasant farmers, seeing their industries, the huckstering
which passes for trade, something of their domestic life
and habits, and the superstitions by which they are en-
slavedy and has acquired some knowledge of the official
and patrician exactions under which they suffer. He has
seen the Koreans at home, with their limpness, laziness,
dependence, and poverty, and Koreans under Bussian
role raised into a thrifty and prosperous population. He
can to some extent judge for himself of the prospects of a
oonntiy which is incapable of standing abne, and which
could support double its present population, and of the value
of a territory which is possibly coveted by two Powers.
Having acted as his guide so far, I should like to conclude
with afew words on some of the subjects which have been
glanced at in the course of these volumes.
278 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap.
-'' Korea is not necessarily a poor country. Her resources
are undeveloped, not exhausted. Her capacities for suc-
cessful agriculture are scarcely exploited. Her climate is
superb, her rainfall abundant, and her soil productive.
Her hills and valleys contain coal, iron, copper, lead,
and gold. The fisheries along her coast-line of 1740
miles might be a source of untold wealth. She is in-
habited by a hardy and hospitable race, and she has no
beggar class.
On the other hand, the energies of her people lie
dormant. The upper classes, paralysed by the most
absurd of social obligations, spend their Uves in in-
activity. To the middle class no careers are open ; there
are no skilled occupations to which they can turn their
energies. The lower classes work no harder than is
necessary to keep the wolf from the door, for very
sufficient reasons. Even in Seoul, the largest mercantile
establishments have hardly risen to the level of shops.
Everything in Korea has been on a low, poor, mean leveL
Class privil^es, class and official exactions, a total absence
of justice, the insecurity of all earnings, a Gk)vemment
which has carried out the worst traditions on which all
unreformed Oriental Gk)vemments are based, a class of
. official robbers steeped in intrigue, a monarch enfeebled
by the seclusion of the palace and the pettinesses of the
Seraglio, a close alliance with one of the most corrupt of
empires, the mutual jealousies of interested foreigners,
and an all -pervading and terrorising superstition have
done their best to reduce Korea to that condition of
resourcelessness and dreary squalor in which I formed
/ my first impression of her.
xxxvn "SORNERS" AND "SORNING*' 279
Nevertheless the resources are there, in her seas, her
soil, and her hardy population.
A great and universal curse in Korea is the habit in
which thousands of able-bodied men indulge of hanging,
or "soming," on relations or friends who are better oflf
than themselves. There is no shame in the transaction,
and there is no public opinion to condemn it. A man
who has a certain income, however small, has to support
many of his own kindred, his wife's relations, many of
his own friends, and the friends of his relatives. This
partly explains the rush for Government offices, and their
position as marketable commodities. To a man burdened
with a horde of hangers-on, the one avenue of escape is
official life, which, whether high or low, enables him to
provide for them out of the public purse. This accounts
for the continual creation of offices, with no other real
object than the pensioning of the relatives and friends of
the men who rule the country. Above all, this explains
the frequency of conspiracies and small revolutions in
Korea. Principle is rarely at stake, and no Korean
revolutionist intends to risk his Kfe in support of any
conviction.
Hundreds of men, strong in health and of average
intelligence, are at this moment hanging on for everything,
even their tobacco, to high officials in Seoul, eating three
meals a day, gossiping and plotting misdeeds, the feeling
of honourable independence being unknown. When it is
desirable to get rid of them, or it is impossible to keep
them longer, offices are created or obtained for them.
Hence Grovemment employment is scarcely better than a
"free coup" for this class of rubbish. The factious
280 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap.
political disturbances which have disgraced Korea for
many years have not been conflicts of principle at all,
but fights for the Grovemment position which gives its
holder the disposal of offices and money. The suspicious-
ness which prevents high officials from working together
is also partly due to the desire of every Minister to get
more influence with the King than his colleagues, and
so secure more appointments for his relations and
friends. The author of the Korean Dictionary states
that the word for work in Korean is synonymous with
" loss," " evil,** " misfortune," and the man who leads an
idle life proves his right to a place among the gentry.
The strongest claim for office which an official puts
forward for a prot^ is that he cannot make a living.
Such persons when appointed do little, and often nothing,
except draw their salaries and "squeeze" where they
can!
I have repeated almost ad nauseam that the cultivator
of the soil is the tdtimaU grange. The feirmers work
harder than any other class, and could easily double the
production of the land, their methods, though somewhat
primitive, being fairly well adapted to the soil and climate.
But having no security for their gains, they are content
to produce only what will feed and clothe their femulies,
and are afraid to build better houses or to dress respect-
ably. There are innumerable peasant feurmers who have
gone on reducing their acreage of culture year by year,
owii^ to the exactions and forced loans of magistrates
and ffang-bans, and who now only raise what will enable
them to procure three meals a day. It is not wonderfid
that dasses whose manifest destiny is to be squeezed.
xxxvn FINANCIAL REFORM 281
should have sunk down to a dead level of indiiGfereiice,
inertia, apathy, and listlessness.
In spite of reforms, the Korean nation still consists of
but two classes, the Bobbers and the Bobbed, — ^the official
class recruited from the yang-hans, the licensed vampires
of the country, and the Ha -in, literally "low men," a
residuum of fully four-fifths of the population, whose
raison cPitre is to supply the blood for the vampires to
suck.
Out of such unpromising materials the new nation has
to be constructed, by education, by protecting the produc-
ing classes, by punishing dishonest officials, and by the
imposition of a labour test in all Government offices, i,e,
by paying only for work actually done.
That reforms are not hopeless, if carried out under
firm and capable foreign supervision, is shown by what
has been accomplished in the Treasury Department in
one year. No Korean office was in a more chaotic and
corrupt condition, and the ramifications of its corruption
were spread all through the Provinces. Much was hoped
when Mr. M'Leavy Brown accepted the thankless position
of Financial Adviser, from his known force of character
and remarkable financial capacity, but no one would have
ventured to predict what has actually occurred.
Although his efforts at financial reform have been
thwarted at every turn, not alone by the rapacity of the
King's male and female favourites, and the measureless
cunning and craft of corrupt officials, who incite the
Sovereign to actions concerning money which are subver-
sive of the fairest schemes of financial rectitude, but by
chicane, fraud, and corruption in every department; by
282 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap.
the absence of trustworthy subordinates; by in&mous
traditional customs ; and the £Eu^t that every man in office,
and every man hoping for office, is pledged by his personal
interest to oppose every effort at reform actively or
passively, Korean finance stands thus at the dose of
1897.
In a few months the Augean stable of the Treasury
Department in Seoul has been cleansed ; the accounts are
kept on a uniform system, and with the utmost exacti-
tude ; " value received " precedes payments for work ; an
army of drones, hanging on to all departments and sub-
sisting on public money, has been disbanded ; a partial
estimate has been formed of the revenue which the
Provinces ought to produce; superfluous officials un-
worthily appointed find that their salaries are not
forthcoming; eveiy man entitled to receive payment is
paid at the end of every month; nothing is in arrears;
great public improvements are carried out with a careful
supervision which ensures rigid economy; the accounts
of every Department undergo strict scrutiny ; no detail is
thought unworthy of attention; and instead of Korea
being bankrupt, as both her friends and enemies supposed
she would be in July 1896, she closed the financial year
in April 1897 with every account paid and a million and
a half in the Treasury, out of which she has repaid one
million of the Japanese loan of three millions. If foreign
advisers of similar calibre and capacity were attached to
all the Departments of State similar results might in time
be obtained.
One thing is certain, that the war and the period of the
energetic ascendency of Japan have given Korea so rude a
xxxvn THREE YEARS OF CHANGE 283
shake, and have so thoroughly discredited various customs
and institutions previously venerated for their antiquity,
that no retrograde movements, such as have been to some
extent in progress in 1897, can replace her in the old
grooves.
Seoul is Korea for most practical purposes, and the
working of the Western leaven, the new impulses and
modes of thought introduced by Western education, the
inevitable contact with foreigners, and the influence of a
free Press are through Seoul slowly affecting the nation.
Under the shadow of Chinese suzerainty the Korean yang-
hem enjoyed practically unlimited opportunities for the
extortions and tyrannies which were the atmosphere of
patrician life. Japan introduced a new theory on this
subject, and practically gave the masses to understand that
they possess rights which the classes are bound to respect,
and the Press takes the same line.
It is slowly dawning upon the Korean peasant farmer,
through the medium of Japanese and Western teaching,
that to be an ultimate sponge is not his inevitable
destiny, that he is entitled to civil rights, equality before
the eye of the law, and protection for his earnings.
The more important of the changes during the last
three years which are beneficial to Korea may be sum-
marised thus : The connection with China is at an end,
and with the victories of Japan the Korean belief in the
unconquerable military power of the Middle Kingdom has
been exploded, and the alliance between two political
systems essentially corrupt has been severed. The dis-
tinction between patrician and plebeian has been abolished,
on paper at least, along with domestic slavery, and the
284 LAST WOBDS ON KOREA ohap.
disabilities which rendered the sons of concabines in-
eligible for high office. Brutal punishments and torture
are done away with, a convenient coinage has replaced
cash, an improved educational system has been launched,
. di^ipM^ ^yand police ^ta been cre^U^
Chinese literary examinations are no longer the test of
fitness for official emplojrment, a small measure of judicial
reform has been granted, a raikoad from Chemulpo to the
capital is being rapidly pushed to completion, the pressure
of the Trades Guilds is relaxed, a postal system efficiently
worked and commanding confidence has been introduced
into all the Provinces, the finances of the country are
being placed on a sound basis, the change from a land-
tax paid in kind to one which is an assessment in money
on the value of the land greatly diminishes the oppor-
tunities for official *' squeezing," and large and judicious
retrenchments have been carried out in most of the
metropolitan and provincial departments.
Nevertheless, the Government Gazette of the 12th of
August 1897 contains the following Boyal Edicts : —
We have been looking into the condition of the country.
We have realised the imminent danger which threatens the
maintenance of the nation. But the people of both high and
low classes do not seem to mind the coming calamity and act
indifferently. Under the circumstances the country cannot prosper.
We are depending upon Our Ministers for their advice and help^
but they do not respond to our trust How are we going to bring
the nation out of its chaotic condition ? We desire them to pause
and to think that they cannot enjoy their homes unless the
integrity of the nation is preserved. We confess that We have
not performed our part properly, but Our Ministers and other
XXXVII ROYAL EDICTS 286
officials ought to have advised Us to refrain from wrong-doing as
their ancestors had done to Our forefathers. We will endeavour
to do what is right and proper for our country hereafter, and We
trust Our subjects will renew their loyalty and patriotism in help-
ing Us to carry out Our aim. Our hope is that every citizen in
the land will consider the country's interest first before thinking of
his private affairs. Let Us all join Our hearts to preserve the
integrity of Our country.
II
The welfare of Our people is our constant thought. We
realise that since last year's disturbance Our people have been
suffering greatly on account of lack of peace and order. The dead
suffers as much as the living, but the Government has not done
anything to ameliorate the existing condition. This thought makes
Us worry to such an extent that the affluence by which We are
surrounded is rather uncomfortable. If this fact is known to Our
provincial officials they will do their best to ameliorate the condi-
tion of the people. Compulsory collection of unjust taxes and
thousands of lawless officials and Government agents rob the help-
less masses upon one pretence or another. Why do they treat Our
people so cruelly? We hereby order the provincial officials to
look into the various items of illegal taxes now being collected, and
abolish them all without reservation. Whoever does not heed this
edict will be punished according to the law.^
Though the Koreans of to-day are the product of
centuries of disadvantages, yet after nearly a year spent
in the country, during which I made its people my chief
study, I am by no means hopeless of their future, in
spite of the distinctly retrograde movements of 1897.
Two things, however, are essential.
L That, as Korea is incapable of reforming herself
from within, she must be reformed from without.
^ The good intentions of the Korean Sovereign, as well as the weakness
which renders them ineffective, are typically illustrated in these two
pathetic documents.
286 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap.
II. That the power of the Sovereign must be placed
under stringent and permanent constitutional checks.
Hitherto I have written exclusively on Korean internal
affairs, her actual condition, and the prospects of the social
and commercial advancement of the people. I conclude
with a few remarks on the political possibilities of the
Korean future, and the relations of Korea with certain
other powera
The geographical position of Korea, with a frontier
conterminous with those of China and Bussia, and divided
from Japan hj only a narrow sea, has done much to
determine her political relationships. The ascendency of
China grew naturally out of territorial connection, and its
duration for many centuries was at once the cause and
effect of a community in philosophy, customs, and to a
great extent in language and religion. But Chinese con-
trol is at an end, and China can scarcely be regarded as a
factor in the Korean situation.
Japan having skilfully asserted her claim to an equality
of rights in Korea, after several diplomatic triumphs and
marked success in obtaining fiscal and commercial
ascendency, eventually, by the overthrow of her rival in
the late war, secured political ascendency likewise; and
the long strife between the two empires, of which Korea
had been the unhappy stage, came to an end.
The nominal reason for the war, to which the Japanese
Government has been careful to adhere, was the absolute
necessity for the reform of the internal administration of
a State too near the shores of Japan to be suffered to sink
annually deeper into an abyss of misgovemment and
ruin. It is needless to speculate upon the ultimate objecti
H*
LI
:.'. 1 .ill '„• . A \iQ
--'. "ili* iiU'.. :.' • •!■•:!. .1. I., ..,.■
'• ••• ' K .. . .. the
> w •
.. .i*; !..••<..• .Tor
-•• *■• '-' . . eep
' ••• '■"'■ .... her
:••—- •" -• tire-
- *" - were
■-- ' - -= jO be
— ' -'■ •- 3d by
-r'^ -- )anese
" - - »perty.
iir.jH,L .. overn-
— ■-• : their
--*-■ ountry.
-r'^-- tesy of
-^ ••• -- jiied by
•^-■••••- -:. ely any
288 LAST WOEDS ON KOREA chap.
subsequent declaration of war with China, while they
gave the world the shock of a surprise, were, as I
endeavoured to point out briefly in chapter xiii, neither
the result of a sudden impulse, nor of the shaldness of a
Ministry which had to choose between its own downfall
and a foreign war. The latter view could only occur to
the most superficial student of Far Eastern history and
politics.
Japan for several centuries has r^arded herself as
possessing vested rights to commercial ascendency in
Korea. The harvest of the Korean seas has been reaped
by her fishermen, and for 300 years her colonies have
sustained a more or less prosperous existence at Fusan.
Her resentment of the pretensions of China in Korea,
though debarred for a considerable time from active exer-
cise, first by the policy of seclusion pursued by the
Tokugawa House, and next by the necessity of consolidating
her own internal polity after the restoration, has never
slumbered. *
To deprive China of a suzerainty which, it must be
admitted, was not exercised for the advantage of Korea ; to
consolidate her own commercial supremacy ; to ensure for
herself free access and special privileges ; to establish a
virtual protectorate under which no foreign dictation
would be tolerated ; to reform Korea on Japanese lines, and
to substitute her own liberal and enlightened civilisation
for the antique Oriental conservatism of the Peninsula,
are aims which have been kept steadily in view for forty
years, replacing in part the designs which had existed for
several previous centuries.
In order to judge correctly of the action or inaction of
xxxvn SKILFUL DIPLOMACY 289
Japan during 1896 and 1897, it must be borne iu mind
not only that her diplomacy is secret and reticent, but
that it is steady ; that it has not hitherto been affected by
any great political cataclysms at home ; that it has less
of opportunism than that of almost any other nation,
and that the Japanese have as much tenacity and fixity
of purpose as any other raca Also, Japanese policy in
Korea is still shaped by the same remarkable statesmen,
who firom the day that Japan emerged upon the interna-
tional arena have been rec(^nised by the people as their
natural leaders, and who have guided the country through
the manifold complications which beset the path of her
enlightened progress with a celerity and freedom from
disaster which have compelled the admiration of the
world.
The assassination of the Korean Queen under the
auspices of Viscount Miura, and the universal horror
excited by the act, rendered it politic for Japan to keep
out of sight till the storm which threatened to wreck her
prestige in Korea had blown over. This temporary retire-
ment was arranged with consummate skill There were
no violent dislocations. The garrisons which were to be
withdrawn quietly slipped away, and were replaced by
guards only sufficient for the protection of the Japanese
ligation, the Japanese telegraph, and other property.
The greater number of the Japanese in Korean Grovem-
ment employment fell naturally out of it as their
contracts expired, and quietly retired from the country.
Ministers of experience, proved ability, and courtesy of
demeanour, have succeeded to the post once occupied by
Mr. Otori and Viscount Miura. There has been scarcely any
voL.n u
290 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap.
recent interference with Korean affairs, and the Japanese
colonists who were much given to buUjring and blustering
are on greatly improved behaviour, the most objectionable
among them having been recalled by orders from home.
Diplomatically, Japan has carefully avoided friction with
the Korean Government and the representatives of the
other Powers. But to infer from this that she has
abandoned her claims, or has swerved from her determina-
tion to make her patronage essential to the well-being of
Korea, would be a grave mistake.
It has been said that whatever Japan lost in Korea
Bussia gained. It is true that the King in his terror and
apprehension threw himself upon the protection of the
Bussian Minister, and remained for more than a year under
the shelter of the Bussian flag, and that at his request a
Russian Military Commission arrived to reorganise and
•- drill the Korean army, that Bussia presented 3000 Berdan
^ rifles to Korea, that a Bussian financier spent the autumn
of 1896 in Seoul investigating the financial resources and
prospects of the country, and that the King, warned by
disastrous experiences of betrayal, prefers to trust his
personal safety to his proximity to the Bussian military
quarters.
'^ ^ But " Bussian Ascendency," in the sense of '\CorUr6l " in
which Japanese ascendency is to be understood, has never
existed. The Bussian Minister used the undoubtedly in-
fluential position which circumstances gave him with
unexampled moderation, and only brought his influence to
^ bear on the King in cases of grave misrule. The influence
of Bussia, however, grew quietly and naturally, with little
^ of external manifestation, up to March 1897, when the
XXXVII RUSSIAN POLICY IN KOREA 291
publication of a treaty, concluded ten months before be-
tween Bussia and Japan/ caused something of a revulsion
of feeling in favour of the latter country, and Bussia has
been slowly losing ground. Her policy is too pacific to
allow of a quarrel with Japan, and a quarrel would be the
inevitable result of any present attempt at dictatorship
in Korea. So fax, she has pursued a strictly opportunist
course, taking no steps except those which have been forced
upon her ; and even if the Korean pear were ready to drop
into her mouth, I greatly doubt if she would shake the
tree.
At all events, Bussia let the opportunity of obtaining
ascendency in Korea go by. It is very likely that she
never desired it. It may be quite incompatible with
other aims, at which we can only guess. At the same
time, the influence of Japan is quietly and steadily increas-
ing. Certainly the great object of the triple intervention
in the treaty negotiations in Shimonoseki was to prevent
Japan from gaining a foothold on the mainland of the
Asiatic Continent ; but it does not seem altogether impos-
sible that, by plajdng a waiting game and profiting by
previous mistakes, she, without assuming a formal protect-
orate, may be able to add, for all practical purposes of
commerce and emigration, a mainland province to her
Empire. Forecasts are dangerous things,^ but it is safe to
say that if Bussia, not content with such quiet develop-
ments as may be in prospect, were to manifest any
aggressiye deHifftm <m Korea, Japan is powerful enough to
^ See Apiftmdix K,
' An " it b tb^i MiJMDTpdF^Ud which happens," it would not be siirpridng
if certain m/trmf tmttmt^hly with the object of placing the independence of
Korea on a Urm \miitt, wtrn tnmU tit any time.
292 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap.
put a brake on the wheel ! Korea, however, is incapable
of standing alone, and unless so difficult a matter as a joint
protectorate could be arranged, she must be under the
tutelage of either Japan or Bussia.
If Bussia were to acquire an actual supremacy, the
usual result would follow. Preferential duties and other
imposts would gradually make an end of British trade in
Korea with all its large potentialities. The effacement
of British political influence has been effected chiefly by a
policy of laissez-faire, which has produced on the Korean
mind the double impression of indifference and feebleness,
to which the dubious and hazy diplomatic relationship
naturally contributes. If England has no contingent
interest in the political future of a country rich in unde-
veloped resources and valuable harbours, and whose pos-
session by a hostile Power might be a serious peril to
her interests in the Far East, her policy during the last
few years has been a sure method of evidencing her
unconcern.
Though we may have abandoned any political interest
in Korea, the future of British trade in the country re-
mains an important question. Such influence as England
possesses, being exercised through a non-official channel,
and therefore necessarily indirect, is owing to the abilities,
force, and diplomatic tact of Mr. M'Leavy Brown, the
Chief Commissioner of Customs, formerly of H.B.M.'s
Chinese Consular Service. So long as he is in control at
the capital, and such upright and able men as Mr. Hunt,
Mr. Oiesen, and Mr. Osborne are Commissioners at the
Treaty Ports, so long will England be commercially
important in Korean estimation.
XXXVII THE CUSTOMS AND ENGLISH CONTROL . 293
The Customs revenue, always increasing, and collected
at a cost of 10 per cent only, is the backbone of Korean
finance ; and everywhere the ability and integrity of the
administration give the Commissioners an influence which
is necessarily in favour of England, and which produces
an impression even on corrupt Korean officiaUsm That
this service should remain in our hands is of the utmost
practical importance. In the days of Japanese ascendency
there was a great desire to upset the present arrangement,
but it was frustrated by the tact and firmness of the
Chief Commissioner. The next danger is that it should
pass into Eussian hands, which would be a severe blow to
our prestige and interests. This danger is imminent, and
it is very likely that Mr. de Speyer, the new Eussian
Minister, may bring such pressure to bear on the Korean
Government as may compel it to make an end of British
control both in the Customs and Financial Departments.
Some of the leading Eussian papers are agitating
this question, and the Novoie Vremia of 9th September
1897, in writing of the opening of the ports of Mok-
po and Chi-nam-po to foreign trade, says: — "These
encroachments are chiefly due to the cleverness of the
British officials who are at the head of the Financial
and Customs Departments of the Korean administration."
It adds, " If Bussia tolerates any further increase in this
policy . . . Great Britain will convert the country into
one of her best markets." The Novoie Vremia goes on to
urge " the Eussian Government to exercise, before it is too
late, a more searching surveillance than at present, to take
steps to reduce the number of British officials in the
Korean Grovernment (the Customs) and to compel Japan
294 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap.
to withdraw what are practicaUy the miUtary garrisons
which she has established in Korea."
Such, in brief outline, is the position of political affairs
in Korea at the close of 1897. Her long and close poli-
tical connection with China is severed ; she has received
from Japan a gift of independence which she knows joot
bpwL to use ; England, for reasons which may be guessed
at, has withdrawn from any active participation in her
affairs ; the other European Powers have no interests to
safeguard in that quarter ; and her integrity and independ-
ence are at the mercy of the most patient and the most
ambitious of Empires, whose interests in the Fax East are
conflicting, if not hostile.
It is with great regret that I take leave of Korea,
with Eussia and Japan facing each other across her
destinies. The distaste I felt for the country at first
passed into an interest which is almost affection^ and
on no previous journey have I made dearer and kinder
friends, or those from whom I parted more regretfully.
I saw the last of Seoul in snow in the blue and violet
atmosphere of one of the loveliest of her winter mornings,
and the following day left Chemulpo in a north wind of
merciless severity in the little Government steamer
Hyenik for Shanghai, where the quaint Korean flag
excited much interest and questioning as she steamed
slowly up the river.
xxxvn A ROYAL NOTIFICATION 295
Postscript
The following notification made by the Korean
* Sovereign's order, which reached me as this sheet was
passing through the press, is a striking commentary on
the Boyal Edict on p. 285, and indicate^) the chaos to
which the Eoyal will reduces Government in Korea.
The Royal Household Department has made the following
official communication to the Home Department : — ^' Since the new
regulations came into force the income of the Royal Household has
been materially reduced, causing much difficulty in carrying on the
various work in the Department. Therefore the Department has
established a Bureau to collect certain duties from the tradesmen of
the country at the rate of 20 per cent from their gross receipts.
The Bureau has sent out agents to the provinces with specific
orders from His Majesty. But lately the Department has learned
that the Home Department issued an order to the Governors to
ignore the agents of the Royal Household Department. The
Department considers the order very injurious to the interest of
the Department, and hereby requests the Home Department to issue
another to the effect that the Governors must give ample protection
and assistance to them in collecting the revenue for the Royal
Household Department The Department makes this request by
order of His Majesty.''
APPENDICES
300
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX B
Direct Foreign Trade op Korea, 1886-96
(i.e. net value of foreign goods imported in foreign, or foreign-type,
vessels into the Treaty Ports, and taken cognisance of by the foreign
Customs ; and of native goods similarly exported and re-exported
from the Treaty Ports to foreign countries.)
Tear.
Net Imports of ForBign
Goods vLe. exclusive of
Foreign Goods re-exported
to Foreign Countries).
Exports and Re-exports i
of Native Goods to
Foreign Ck}antries.
Total.
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
$2,474,185
2,815,441
3,046,443
3,377,815
4,727,839
6,256,468
4,598,485
3,880,155
5,831,563
8,088,213
6,531,324
$504,225
804,996
867,058
1,233,841
3,550,478
3,366,344
2,443,739
1,698,116
2,311,215
2,481,808
4,728,700
$2,978,410
3,620,437
3,913,501
4,611,656
8,278,317
8,622,812
7,042,224
5,578,271
8,142,778
10,570,021
11,260,024
Note, — The increase in the foreign trade of Korea between 1886 and 1896
may not have been so great as the above figures without explanation
would imply. It is generally stated that side by side with the trade in
foreign vessels at the Treaty Ports a considerable traffic has been carried
on by junk between non-Treaty ports in Korea and ports in China and
Japan. This junk trade was probably much larger in the earlier years of
the period the figures of which are compared, and the rapid development
shown in the table may be partly due to the increasing transfer of traffic
from native craft to foreign-type vessels which offer greater regularity and
safety and less delay.
1 i.e. including native goods imported fh>ni another Korean port and re-exported to
a foreign country.
APPENDIX B
,».
Lnport Duties.
Biport DuliM.
Tonn^Du..
Total.
1884
»79,37B71
119,23474
$3,478-19
$102,086-64
1885
119,361-41
19,602-22
2,996-90
141,963-63
24.812-11
2. 70S 75
40,384-52
3,045-12
246,701-32
1888
219,759 81
43,330-62
4.124-55
267,214-98
isse
213, 467 -49
61,83S'23
4.707-04
279,999-76
1890
327, 460 '11
178,552-14
8, 687 -SO
614.600-15
1881
372,022-07
168,096-36
8,940-26
649,058-69
1892
308,954-13
123,212-24
6,247-06
438.413-42
86,720-22
6,717-16
357, 828 '34
115,779-33
7.398-64
481.006-31
601,588-06
124,281-22
15,448-20
741,297-48
1896
448.137 -le
226.342-45
17,30476
691,784-36
CouPAaATiv& Statement of the Japanese and non-Jafakbbb Cotton
Goods Imfoktbd into Korba DtiBiNO the Ybab 1896.
f,,„,i.
JapBDue.
Total.
HoRtlon
QuaDtity.
Value.
dmntity.
Valmt,
Qiiantltl
VlluB.
6.71.1
23,6e(
428,911
Shirtings— White
31
121
5,445
21,768
6,476
21
88SJ
Urilla .
63'
11,588
47.9iH
11.746
Turkey- Red Cloths
1,852
3,66i
7,519
17,341
9,171
21
l!5,91'
762
2,87(
Cotton Blankets .
Paira
1,625
3,88:
Thread
Piculs
Vuliie
12.821
388,064
1,795
71,386
14,616
621,628
1,793.027
2,314.566
Cottou Goods. Un-
=ia«aod . .
Value
644,671
'379,310
Total . .
l,!fi6,199
2,172,346
3,338,545
APPENDIX C
Bktubii of Principal Articles of Export (net) to Foreign CoontrieB for
the Yean 1896-8S.
O,^^^.
r^.
Wiin-Bin.
im.
1S9S.
ISH.
ISU.
l^
ISBS.
GimiBng .
^per . . .
8,789
If
12,713
£«,87a
U,0S8
1,T8S
83.390
fli5,7al
m.ssa
8, 70S
13,633
S7,SS5
i-'mS
n,3fli
i.SB4
t.tu
MS
3,6W
ToUi . .
&m.u,i
^133,407
£383,100
£Sa,i5S
£35,fl44
£42,112
£S11,27S (3,4SI,G(
APPENDIX C
303
Rbtubn of Principal Articles of Foreign Import (net : i.«. excluding
Re-exports) to Open Ports of Korea during the Years 1896-96.
Chemulpo.
Fusan.
Wdn-san.
Articles.
1896.
1895.
1896.
1895.
1896.
1896.
Cotton goods —
Shirtings .
£108,196
£172,549
£61,920
£64,911
£21,982
£56,190
Lawns and muslins
6,956
11,554
10,670
8,188
1,072
2,066
Sheetings —
Japanese
12,608
7,199
• •
• •
40
1,880
English and American
6,786
8,594
• •
• •
28
4,600
Japanese piece-goods
14,015
20,129
24,944
19,482
80,867
88,608
Yam-
Japanese
27,271
26,098
11,018
8,866
1,690
8,488
English and Indian
5,684
4,876
222
• •
1,871
4,864
Other cottons .
14,894
29,065
6,868
4,886
8,782
16,126
Total .
£190,850
£280,064
£105,187
£91,288
£66,177
£124,066
Woollens.
8,266
4,983
578
884
182
888
Metals ....
7,172
8,620
15,268
10,842
7,690
6,217
Sundries-
Dyes
4,818
10,794
2,868
8,084
777
1,607
Oiass-cloths
2,858
18,641
8,646
1,402
2,241
8,164
Matches
4,798
8,576
4,671
8,848
2,018
1,680
Kerosene oil-
American .
20,085
9,819
9,660
7,479
6,468
8,990
Russian .
9,812
467
4,618
478
69
1
Provisions .
5,717
8,859
2,868
2,024
881
Sak6 ....
8,018
9,689
2,972
2,818
1,208
1,176
Silk piece goods .
28,948
66,067
8,167
6,606
4,058
12,848
Other articles
89,417
111,902
60,828
88,869
26,241
80,884
Total .
£181,415
£228,748
£88,878
£209,846
£66,098
£48,461
£66,400
Grand total .
£882,208
£522,860
£167.662
£117,600
£186,616
Less excess of re-
exports over im-
ports in some
articles
1,088
696
• •
• ■
' »
126
Nettotal
£381,115
£621,764
£209,846
£107,662
£117,600
£186,490
Total for Korm.
1896.
Currency.
; t9,&89,680l
SUniing.
1806.
Currency.
£709,441 I |8,0M,4«!>1
8t«riing,
£«76;416
1 ldolm2».2d.
APPENDIX C
1
1
1
SSSSISSSS
3 --J-sa
IS
si-
a
-=s2|-a|
ll
^
1
Jill!
II
:" rS :SS
|s
1
1
: : ::B:;g
II
i!
: : : :3 ; ;"
$s
1
1
1
§1
it
^1
:■ .-S := =
86
1
1
::::|,:S
II
5j
: : . :S : -
II
1
1
1
^1 .^IHI
Si
9
:- :-S'-=*S
2g
i
3:5 I::!
II
^1
- :S :S : : =
S:
i
JiJlill i'
APPENDIX D
305
APPENDIX D
The Foreign Population of the three Korean Treaty Ports was
as follows in January 1897 : —
Chemulpo Settlement.
3904
404
15
12
7
Japanese
Chinese
British
German
American
French
Norwegian
Greek .
Italian
Portuguese
Total
Estimated native population .
7
3
3
1
1
4357
. 6756
Fusan Settlement.
Japanese . 5508
Chinese ....... 34
British 10
American ....... 7
German ....... 2
Danish ....... 1
French ....... 1
Italian ....... 1
Total
5564
Estimated native population of Fusan City and
the Prefecture of Tung-nai . . 33,000
VOL. n .K
306
APPENDIX D
Won
Japanese
Chinese
American
German
British
French
Russian
Danish
Norwegian
Total
Estimated native population
•san Settlement.
1299
39
8
3
2
2
2
1
1
1,357
15,000
APPENDIX E 307
APPENDIX E
Treaty between Japan and Kussia, with Reply of H.E. the
Korean Minister for Foreign Affairs
TRANSLATION
MemoTomdv/m
The Representatives of Russia and Japan at Seoul, having conferred
under the identical instructions from their respective Governments,
have arrived at the following conclusions : —
While leaving the matter of His Majesty's, the King of Korea,
return to the Palace entirely to his own discretion and judgment,
the Representatives of Russia and Japan will friendly advise His
Majesty to return to that place, when no doubts could be entertained
concerning his safety.
The Japanese Representative, on his part, gives the assurance,
that the most complete and effective measures will be taken for the
control of Japanese soshi.
The present Cabinet Ministers have been appointed by His
Majesty by his own free will, and most of them have held ministerial
or other high offices during the last two years and are known to be
liberal and moderate men.
The two Representatives will always aim at recommending His
Majesty to appoint liberal and moderate men as Ministers, and to
show clemency to his subjects.
The Representative of Russia quite agrees with the Representa-
tive of Japan that at the present state of affairs in Korea it may be
necessary to have Japanese guards stationed at some places for the
protection of the Japanese telegraj^h line between Fusan and Seoul,
and that these guards, now consisting of three companies of soldiers,
should be withdravm as soon as possible and replaced by gendarmes,
who will be distributed as follows : fifty men at Fusan, fifty men
at Ka-heung, and ten men each at ten intermediate posts between
Fusan and Seoul.
308 APPENDIX E
This distribution may be liable to some changes, but the total
number of the gendarme force shall never exceed two hundred men,
who will afterwards gradually be withdrawn from such places,
where peace and order have been restored by the Korean Govern-
ment
For the protection of the Japanese settlements at Seoul and the
open ports against possible attacks by the Korean populace, two
companies of Japanese troops may be stationed at Seoul, one com-
pany at Fusan and one at Won-san, each company not to exceed
two hundred men. These troops will be quartered near the settle-
ments, and shall be withdravm as soon as no apprehension of such
attacks could be entertained.
For the protection of the Russian Legation and Consulates the
Russian Government may also keep guards not exceeding the
number of Japanese troops at those places, and which will be with-
drawn as soon as tranquillity in the interior is completely restored.
(Signed) C. Waeber,
Representative ofRusda.
J. KOMURA,
B»pre9entaJtive of Japan,
Seoul, I4tk May 1896.
Proctocol
The Secretary of State, Prince Lobanow-Rostovskey, Foreign
Minister of Russia, and the Marshal Marquis Yamagata, Ambassador
Extraordinary of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, having
exchanged their views on the situation of Korea, agreed upon the
following articles : —
I
For the remedy of the financial difl&culties of Korea, the GJovem-
ments of Russia and Japan will advise the Korean Government to
retrench all superfluous expenditure, and to establish a balance
between expenses and revenues. If, in consequence of reforms
deemed indispensable, it may be necessary to have recourse to
foreign loans, both Governments shall by mutual consent give
their support to Korea.
APPENDIX E 309
II
The Governments of Russia and Japan shall endeavour to leave
to Korea, as far as the financial and economical situation of that
country will permit, the formation and maintenance of a national
armed force and police of such proportions as will be sufficient for
the preservation of the internal peace, without foreign support
III
With a view to facilitate communications with Korea, the
Japanese Government may continue (ccynJtirmerai) to administer the
telegraph lines which are at present in its hands.
It is reserved to Russia (the rights) of building a telegraph line
between Seoul and her frontiers.
These different lines can be repurchased by the Korean Govern-
ment, so soon as it has the means to do so.
IV
In case the above matters should require a more exact or
detailed explanation, or if subsequently some other points should
present themselves upon which it may be necessary to confer, the
Representatives of both €k)vemments shall be authorised to negotiate
in a spirit of friendship.
(Signed) Lobanow.
Yamagata.
Moscow, Qih June 1896.
The following is the exact translation of the reply sent to the
Japanese Minister by the Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs, con-
cerning the Russo-Japanese Convention : —
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Mar» 9^) 2n(2 yea/r of Kun-ywn/g (1897).
Sir — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your
despatch of the 2nd instant^ informing me that^ on the 14th day of
May last, a memorandum was signed at Seoul by H.E. Mr. Komura,
the former Japanese Minister Resident, and the Russian Minister,
and that, on the 4th of June of the same year, an Agreement was
signed at Moscow, by H.E. Marshal Yamagata, the Japanese
310 APPENDIX E
Ambassador, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Russia ; and
that these two documents have been laid publicly before the
Imperial Diet You further inform me that on the 26th ultimo
you received a telegram from your Qovemment, pointing out that
the above-mentioned Agreement and Memorandum in no way
reflect upon, but, on the contrary, are meant to strengthen, the
independence of Korea, — this being the object which the Govern-
ments of Japan and Russia had in view, — and you cherish the
confident hope that my Government will not fail to appreciate this
intention. In accordance with telegraphic instructions received
from the Imperial Minister of Foreign Aflfairs you enclose copies of
the Agreements referred to.
I beg to express my sincere thanks for your despatch and the
information it conveys. I would observe, however, that as my
Government has not joined in concluding these two Agreements,
its freedom of action as an independent Power cannot be restricted
by their provisions. — I have, etc,
(Signed) Ye Wanyong,
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs,
H.K Mr. Kato,
Minister of Japan, etc.
INDEX
Abbot, a refined, i 93
Agricultaral implements, i. 187
methods, i. 185-189
Agriculture, the Ministry of, ii. 202
Ah Wong, i. 27
Allen, Mr. Clement, i. 216
Dr., ii. 165, 166, 167, 275
Altar-piece, an unique, i. 170, 171
American missions, i. 14, 66, 199 ;
iL 73, 113, 157-162, 209
Am-nok river, the, i. 4, 5, 8, 80
Amur Province, the, ii. 16, 25
river, the, i. 257, 258, 259 ; ii. 15,
24, 26, 27
An-byong, i. 189
Ancestral temple, an, i. 97
worship, i. 62, 66, 97 ; ii. .224
An-chin-Miriok, ii. 156
Ang-paks, L 84, 141, 182
Animals, i. 78
An Ju, ii. 134
An-kil Yung Pass, ii. 139-142
An-mun-chai, the, i. 158, 162, 165,
167, 168
Appenzeller, Rev. H. G., ii. 209
A-ra-riing style of music, i. 192-194
Archipelago, a remarkable, i. 6
Army, the, i. 56, 57, 246, 247 ; ii.
263-265
Asan, battle of, i. 243
Chinese landing at, i. 242
Assembly, a national, ii. 190
Associations, ii. 272
Atai-jo, king, i. 195
Australian ladies, mission work by,
i. 22-24
Baikal horses, ii. 19
Banners and bannermen, i. 221, 222
Barter, i. 85
Bas-reliefs, i. 93
Beacon fires, i. 108, 118
"BeHeving Mind, Temple of the," i
159
Bell, a fine, u. 94
of Seoul, the great, i. 37, 39, 49
Birukoff, Mr., ii. 209
Boat, a small, i. 72, 73
Bride, a, i. 131
Bridges, ii. 91
British political influence, iL 292
trade, ii. 292
Broughton Bay, i. 5, 201
Brown, Mr. M*Leavy, i. 32 ; ii. 186,
219, 266, 281, 292
Buddha, statues of, i. 156, 166
Buddhism, L 62, 94, 161, 163, 168,
171, 195 ; ii. 222
relics of Korean, iL 82
Buddhist hells, representations of, i.
159
establishments, L 66, 87, 92, 129,
154 ; iL 123
nunneries, i. 129, 154
temple, a, L 92
Buddhistic legends, i. 166
Bulls, L 31, 123, 187, 188
Burial customs, L 239 ; ii. 82-89
places, i. 31, 62, 63
Burrough's and Welcome's tabloids,
L91
Butchers, methods of, L 199
Cabinet, the, ii. 188, 191, 198
Miiiisters, execution of^ ii. 188
Campbell Mr., L 152, 155, 158 ; IL 132
312
INDEX
Carles, Consul, i 140 ; ii. 185, 169
Cave, a remarkable, i 110
Cham-su-ki, i. 106
tree, i. 107
Chang-an Sa, L 162, 164, 166, 172,
173, 186
temple, i 164-168, 168
torrent, i. 169
Chang Sun, L 31
Charcoal, export of, L 84
Charms, iL 233
Cha-san, IL 127, 156
Che-ch5n, i. 119
Chefoo, L 203, 214, 216, 260
Chemulpo, i 72, 80, 210, 213, 214 ;
IL 29, 67, 60, 96, 101, 157, 169,
171, 248, 255, 284, 294
banks at, i. 27 ; ii. 267
cemetery at, iL 122
Chinese settlement in, i. 26 ; ii. 30
harbour, i. 6, 11, 12, 25, 30
Japanese settlement in, i 26, 27,
210 ; ii 30
Korean quarter, i 28, 29
occupation of^ by Japanese, i. 242,
ii. 30
population of, ii 306
trade in, i. 27, 28
war rumours at, i 206, 207
Cheng-tu, i 119
Che-on-i, i 72, 73, 169
Children, sale of, to dsemons, ii 238
Chi-li, i 219
ChU-sung Mon, the, ii 118, 119
China, ascendency of, ii. 284, 286,
288
Chinese civilisation, introduction of, i 2
in Korea, i 210, 211, 212 ; ii 284,
286, 288
Manchuria, ii. 19, 28
suzerainty, renunciation of, ii. 31,
288, 293
Chin-h'yo, the monk, i 166
Chin>nam-po, i 11 ; ii 171, 293
Chino-Japanese War, origin of the, i
242
Chin-pul, i 184
Choi Sok demon, u. 247
Chol-muri Kaut, the, ii. 236
Ch61-yong-To, i 16
Chong-dong, ii 266, 268, 269
Ch6ng-phy5ng, i 100, 103, 104
temple at i 103, 104
Chong-sdp, i 162
Chon-Shin daBmons, ii. 246
Chon-yaing, i 97
Chosen AfagazinCt The^ ii 271
Cho Wang daemon, ii. 247
Christian missions: see Missionary
Work
religion, Korean estimate of^ ii
269, 270
Christianity, progress of^ i. 236, 237
Christians, native, i 68 ; ii. 6
Christie, Dr., i 232, 236-238, 249
Chul-la, i 19
Chul-la Do, ii 107
Chun-chhon, i 123
Chung-Chong-Do, i 81, 93
Chung Ju, i 100
Chun-yol, i 121
Chyang-yang Sa monastery, i 168
Chyung-tai, i 175, 177
Chyu-pha Pass, the, i 146
Class privileges, i 113, 114 ; u. 278,
283
Climate, i 7
Coinage, i 11
Concubinage, ii 162
Confucian college, the, ii 201
temples, i 82, 91, 105, 116
Confucianism, i 13, 14
Coigugal fidelity, i 131 ; ii. 161, 163
Conspiracies, frequency o^ ii 279
Constitutional changes, i 188-206
Conventions with China, renimciation
of the, i 243
Corfe, Bishop, i 32, 47, 69, 71 ; his
mission, i 25, 29, 66, 67, 71
Correctional tribunal, the, ii 189,
191
Corruption, ii 261, 262, 281, 282
Council of State, formation of a, ii
186, 193-197
Court functionaries, ii. 267, 258
Crown Prince, the, ii 41, 66, 177,
180, 256, 257, 259
Princess, the, ii. 65
Cultivation, i 112
Curzon, the Hon. G. W., i 168
Customs, i 59-68, 86, 113, 128-136,
145 ; ii. 83, 168, 174, 293
DiEMON festivals, ii 235-237
worship, i 83, 87, 107, 147, 163 ;
ii 140, 144, 162, 222-254
INDEX
113
Dnnoos, classification ol, ii 249, 250
femr of, L 1-15
propidations of^ iL 235
Death, easterns ccMuiected with, L 65
DaUet, Pere, iL 16S
Diamond Mountain, L 6, 80, 81, 9S,
116, 119, 146, 15a, 161 ; monas-
teries of the, i 152-172
Diplomats, harassed, iL 70
Divination, iL 232
Dogs, L 45, 78
Dog meat, nse o^ L 178
Dolmens, L 149
Domestic animals, L 186
life, iL 168
slaves, L 45
Domiciliary visit, a, iL 103
Dragon daemons, iL 244
Dnmkenness, i. 101
Don-gan river, the, L 201
Dwellings, L 83
Dye, General, iL 63, 64, 71, 73
Eastkbn Siberia, maritime provinces
of, iL 25, 27, 28
Edgar, H.M.S., iL 101
Edicts, iL 205
Education, L 164, 238 ; IL 207-212,
269
the Biinistry of, iL 201, 212
" Eight Views," the, L 180
Elm trees, fine, L 104
English mission, the first, L 66
-speaking Koreans, i. 47
Eternal Best, Temple of, i. 154, 155
Eui-chyeng Pu, the, ii. 188, 189, 195,
196
Europeans, Korean estimate of, ii. 269
Exorcism, L 128 ; iL 163, 229-231,
251, 252, 253, 254
Exports and imports, ii. 800, 301
Falconry, L 79, 80
Fanners, ii. 280, 283
Fauna and flora, L 7, 8, 9
Fengtien Cavalry Brigade, the, L 247
Ferguson and Co., Messrs., i. 216
Fermented liquors, 1. 101, 102
Perries, L 117
Ferry boat, an ingenious, L 149
Festivals, ii. 235, 245, 247
Fetishes, iL 242, 247, 248
Fever, attack of, i. 225
Finance. iL 31S-221
Fire Dragon Pool, the, L 167
Fishermen, L 182, 18;)
*' Five Hundred Disciples^" t«m|Ue of
the, L 197
Forced labour, ii. 145
Foreign liquors, love of, L 101
Office, the, iL 200
Foreigners, Korean estimate ot i^
269
Formosa, transfer of, ii. 60
Fortress, an ancient, L 117
^* Four Sages." Hall of the, L 156
Fox, Mr., L 32, 35
French clocks, taste for, i. 99, 101
Frescoes, curious, L 61 ; iL 123
**Frog-boxes,"iL232
Fu rapids, the, L 119
Funerals, i. 64 ; U. 82, 88
Fusan, L 5, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 205
206 ; iL 29, 288
foreign settlement of, L 17
foreign trade of, L 17, 18
Japanese influence in, L 19
mission work in, L 22-24
new Japanese cemetery in, L 17
population of, L 19 ; ii. 305
Galb, Mr., L 193, 200
Mrs., L 200
Game, i. 202
Gap Pass, the, L 32, 210
Gardner, Mr., L 30, 212
Mrs. and Miss, L 32
Gautama, a shrine of, L 157
Geological formation, i. 6
Gesangs, IL 164*166
Ginseng, virtues and cultivation of,
iL 95-98, 243
Girls, seclusion of, L 135
God of War, temple to the, ii. 121,
128
Godobin, Fort, i. 251
Gold-digging, L 121, 122; iL 127
143
Gold omamentH, i. 121
"Golden Sand, the river of," i. 88
Gorge, a grand, i. 106
Government, departments of, ii. 200*
206
reorganisation of the, ii. 18.0, 188-
206
*' Government Hospital," the, i. 66
314
INDEX
Goverw¥umt Oazette^ the, ii. 191,
192
* Great Fifteenth Day," the, ii. 66,
67
Greathouse, General, i. 82
Greathoose, Mr., ii. 273
Ha-Chin, L 108
Ha Ch'i style of music, i. 192
Ha-in class, the, ii. 281
"Half-way Place," the, i. 101
Ham-gyong Do, i. 267 ; ii. 1, 14
Ham-gyong Province, i. 181, 189
Hamlet, a destitute, ii 138
Hanka Lake, IL 26, 27
Han Kang, i. 72, 76, 81, 82, 92
Han river, i. 6, 8, 30, 32, 36, 71, 76,
80, 82, 84, 92, 93, 94, 100, 101,
103, 104, 10^, 111, 116, 119,
120, 122, 123, 124, 127, 149,
178 ; ii. 62, 91, 243
descent of the, L 118
fauna and flora of, 1. 77, 78, 79,
109
rapids of; i. 81, 90, 102, 103,
109, 113, 114, 118, 124, 126
scenery around the, i. 76
Han valley, inhabitants of the, i. 82,
86-88
cultivation of the, i. 112
limestone clififs of the, i. 117
schools in the, i. 87
temperature of the, i 89
Hariong, the s.s., ii. 167, 168, 170
Hart, Sir Robert, i. 250
Hats, monstrous, ii. 166
Heidemann, Mr., ii. 1, 8, 11
Hemp, cultivation of, i. 105, 106
Hermit City, the, i. 33
Higo MarUf the s.s., i. 16, 26, 206,
214, 216
HilUer, Mr., i. 212 ; ii. 30, 37, 48, 60,
76.78
*' HUl Towns," the, ii. 109
Hills, denudation of, i. 8
Hiroshima, trial of assassins at, ii.
71
Hoa-chung, i. 175, 176
Hoang-chyoug San. i. 176
Home OfSce, the, ii. 200
Hong-Kong, i. 203
Hong, Colonel, ii. 63, 64, 67
Hon-jd, ii. 92
Ho-pai, or divining table, the, ii
233
Household spirits, iL 246
Hulbert, Rev. H. B., i. 190, 191, 192,
194 ; iL 211
Hu-nan Chang, L 106
Hun-chun, ii 8, 11, 19
Chinese at, ii 19, 20
Hun-ho river, the, i 233
Hunt, Mr., ii 292
Huok Euri, ii 129
Hwang-hai Do, i 6
Hwang-hai Province, ii 103
Hyon, Colonel, ii. 63
ICHANG, i 119
Im, accident to my servant, ii. 138,
139
Im-jin, ii 91
Im-jin Gang, the, ii 91
Immorality, ii 161
Incantations, ii. 264
Independence Arch, the, ii 270 #
Independence, proclamation of, ii.
31
IndependeTit newspaper, the, ii. 271
Inns, i 140-146
Inouye, Count, ii 31, 32, 60, 61, 69,
60, 61, 67, 71, 74, 76
Inscription, an amusing, 1. 113
Interrupted Shadow, Island of the, i
16
I-tai, the innkeeper, i. 26, 27 ; ii
30
Jaisohn, Dr., i 147 ; ii 209, 271
Japan, last glimpse of, i. 16
policy of, i 210, 211 ; ii. 61, 144
146
sea of, i 4, 6, 25, 80, 116, 167,
172
Japanese, hatred of the, ii. 166
influence, i 19, 27 ; ii. 173, 260,
261, 282, 283, 286-294
prestige, a blow to, ii. 71
Jones, Mr. Heber, ii. 161, 224 notCt
241, 244 Twte
Justice, the Ministry of, ii. 202
''Judgment, Temple of," i 169
Junks, i 202
Ka-chano, ii 127, 128
Kai-chhon ii. 169
INDEX
31ft
Kai-Song. h. 92
Kal-ron-gi, L 173
Kimg, the, L 230, 240
Kang-ge Moontams, ii. 96
Kang-won Do, the, i 5
Kang-won Provinoe, i 181
Kanjo Shimbo newspaper, the, ii 272
Ka-phyong, i 122, 126
Keom-kaDg San Mountains, L 119,
146, 152, 153, 158, 161, 162,
163, 168, 172, 173
monasteries, i 154, 162
Eeom-San goldfields, L 122 ; iL 127,
169
Eeum-San Grang river, i. 147
EhabarofFka, IL 26, 27
Korean settlers near, IL 4, 15
Ehordadbeh's Book of Roads, 1. 2
Ki-cho, the, i. 168, 162, 172
Ki-jun, ii. 169
Kim, the boatman, i. 74, 90, 94, 103,
113, 114, 116, 120
Kimchi, i 98, 177, 179
Kim Ok-yun, tiie mnrderer of, ii.
261
King, the, ii. 39, 40, 44-49, 69,
65, 68, 69, 72, 73, 76, 77, 177
an audience with, ii. 256-259
his flight to the Bussian Legation,
ii. 180-185, 259-262
power of the, ii. 188, 192, 196
King's Oath, the, ii. 31-37
Kings, Palace of the, ii. 94, 96
Kit-ze, or Ki-ja, i. 2 ; iL 169
Tomb of, ii. 122
Kobe, i. 203
Kol-lip daemon, ii. 248
Ko-mop-so river, the, ii. 128
Ko-moun Tari, ii. Ill
Komura, Mr., ii. 7l| 76
Kong- won, i. 120
Kong-won Do, i 80, 180
Korea, class privileges in, i. 113,
114 ; ii. 278, 283
climate of, 1. 7
coinage of, i 11
dissatisfaction in, ii. 75
farmers in, ii. 280, 283
fauna and flora of, i. 7, 8, 9
first impressions of, L 16
first notice of, i. 2
foreigners in, i. 12
geography of, i. 4
Korea, geological formation of, i« 6
GoTeniment o^ i. 9, 10
harbours of« i. 5
Japanese influence in, i ld« 27 ; il
173, 260, 261, 282, 283, 286
lakes of , L 5
language of, u 12
law, administration of, in, ii. 273
manufactures and minerals of, i. d
markets in, L 22
missionary methods in, i. 22, 23,
24, 67. 68
money o^ L 69, 70, 86
mountains of, i. 6
proposals for administration of, i.
242, 243
provincial Government of, ii. 189,
196, 197
recent history of, i. 11
religion of, i. 13, 14, 66, 67 ; ii.
221
resources of, ii. 278, 279
roads in, i. 12, 146
security in, ii. 94
trade in, i. 17, 18, 27, 28 ; ii. 104-
108, 212-218, 272
winter in, i. 82
Korean animals, i. 78
bulls, i. 81, 123, 187, 188
ouRtoms, i. 59-68, 85, 113, 128-
186, 145 ; ii. 88, 168, 174
dogs, i. 45, 78
dwellings, i. 88
education, i. 164, 288 ; ii. 207-
212
finance, ii. 218-221
graves, i. 31, 62, 63
independence, proclamation of, ii.
31
inns, i. 140-145
moimtains, view of, ii. 13
nobles and officials, i. 44
pigs, i. 78, 188 ; ii. 127
ponies, L 27, 81, 58, 137-130,
187, 188
roads, i. 12, 146
settlers, ii. 1-20
sheep, L 78, 188
soldiers, i. 56, 57, 246, 247
streets, L 21
travellers, i. 145
villages, i. 84, 188 ; ii. 4, 6, 9, 16
voracity, i. 177
316
INDEX
Korean women, i. 43 ; ii. 148-154
Korean Christian Advocate and
Christian News, the, ii. 271
Korean Repository , the, L 194 ; ii.
158, 165, 272
Koreans, character and physiognomy
of, i. 2, 3, 4, 20 ; iL 187, 144, 145
Koioshing, the transport, i. 243
Ko-yang, iL 81, 82
Krasnoye Celo, ii. 11, 14, 16
Ku-kyong, indulgence in, i 161, 168
Ku-mu-nio, i. 124
Kun-ren-tai troops, ii. 62, 63, 64,
67, 68, 72, 74, 75, 76, 115, 177,
205
Kuntz and Albers, Messrs., i. 254,
258 ; ii. 3, 21, 24
Kur-dong ceremonial, the, i. 48-58,
79, 136
K'wan, ii. 14
Kwan-ja, the use of a, i. 95, 96, 97,
145, 168, 184 ; iL 78
Kwan-yin, L 165
image of; i. 157
Kwass, ii. 12
Kyei, or associations, ii. 272
Kyeng-pok Palace, iL 37, 44, 180,
185, 263, 268
Kyeng-wun Palace, the, iL 185, 220,
266, 257
Kyong-heung, iL 7
Kyong-hwi Province, iL 108
Kyong-kwi Do, i. 81
Kyong-sang Province, L 19, 24
Kyong-won-Do, L 81
Lakes, i. 5
Landis, Dr., iL 224 note, 241, 248
Language, L 12
Laundresses, L 42, 43, 45 ; IL 149
Lava-fields, i. 7, 149
Law, administration of^ ii. 273
Liau river, the, L 216, 225, 226,
233
Li Hsi, the king, 1. 54
Li Hung Chang, ii. 58
Lindholm, ii. 24
Lion Stone, the, L 167
Litany, a Greek, iL 12
Literary swells, L 116 ; ii. 148
Literature, the Temple of, iL 201
Lone-tree Hill, the, i. 43
Long-shin daemons, iL 244
Lotus dance, the, ii. 165
Lucifer matches, i. 195
Macdonald, Sir Claude, iL 259
Ma-ch^ Tong lake, L 180, 181, 182
Ma-chai, L 94, 119, 120, 125
Magistrate, an interview with a, L
96
Ma-ha-ly-an Sa monastery, i. 165
Mak-pai Pass, the, L 173
Ma-kyo, L 119
Mama, or the smallpox daemon, iL
239, 240
Manchu head-dress, i. 234
soldiers, L 245, 246, 247
Manchuria, L 216, 217, 285, 245
brigands in, L 219, 220
Chinese immigrants to, L 219
floods in, L 226-229
Qovemment of, 1. 236
immigrations from, 1. 2
population of^ L 218
trade of, i. 220
vlceroyalty of, L 218, 219, 222
Manchus, the, L 221
Mandarins and their retainers, ii.
135
Mangan, the, L 129
Mang-kun, the, ii. 174, 175
Man-pok-Tong, the, L 167
Manufactures and minerals, L 9
Ma-pu, L 30, 31, 32, 36, 72, 210
Mapus or grooms, L 137-141, 189 ;
iL 79, 81, 91, 102
fear of tigers, L 150 ; iL 90, 111,
130
superstition of, L 147
Marble pagoda of Seoul, the, L 89,
40
Ma-ri Kei, L 150, 151
Markets, L 22
Marriage customs, L 128-186 ; iL
158
Matunin, Mr., ii. 7
Meals, L 86, 91
Medical missions, iL 253
Medicine, system of, i. 239
Merchant pedlars, i. 81
Mesozoic and metamorphic rocks,
L6
MUler, Mr., L 69, 78, 74, 88, 90,
91, 96, 108, 116, 118, 168, 168,
174, 184
INDEX
317
Millet, the use of, ii. 125
Min clan, the, ii. 50
Ming tombs, the, i. 236
Ministers, execution of, ii. 183
of State, duties of, u. 198, 199
" Ministres de Parade," i. 236
Min Yeng-chyun, ii. 189
Miriang, i. 19
Mlrioks, i. 83, 125 ; ii. 82, 83
Miriok Yang Pass, ii. 126
Mission hospital, a fine, L 238
service, a, ii 162
Missionary work, i. 14, 22-24, 66-68,
199, 236-238, 244 ; ii 6, 113,
157-162
statistics of, iL 298, 299
Minra, General Viscount, ii. 61, 62,
68, 71, 287, 289
Moflfett, Mr., L 82 ; ii. 114, 115,
119, 121, 124, 159, 160
Mok-po river, i. 5, 11
Mok-po, ii. 293
Monasteries, i. 152-172
Money, i. 69, 70, 85
Monks, i. 153-172
ignorance of the, L 164
Monuments, ii. 92
Mou-chin Tai, ii. 133, 134, 144, 147
Mounds, grass-covered, i. 203
Mountains, i 6
Mourning costume, i. 65
Muk-den, i. 219, 220, 224, 230, 233 ;
ii. 119
anti-foreign feeling in, i. 245, 249
cabs of, i. 234
Christianity in, i. 236, 244
mission hospital, i. 238
pawnshops, i. 240
suicides in, i. 241
system of medicine, 1. 239
trade of, i. 235, 248
Mulberry gardens of Seoul, L 39
Palace of Seoul, i. 43 ; ii. 32, 242
Murata rifle, the, i. 246
Music, i 190-194
Mu-tang, or sorceress, the, i. 128,
147, 190 ; ii. 84, 87, 113, 144,
163, 223, 234-254, 276
beUef in, ii. 250-254
Myo-kil Sang, the, i. 166
Nagasaki, i. 16, 203, 250, 251 ;
ii. 60
<(
Nai Eak, the, ii. 195
Naktong, i. 67
Naktong river, the, i. 5, 19
Nam Chhon valley and river, iL 109,
110
Nam Han fortress, i. 91, 92, 210
Nam San, i. 189, 195
fortress, i. 118
Nam-San mountains, i. 34, 41, 43,
72 108
Nang-chon, i. 119, 124, 127
Nanivxiy the cruiser, i. 243
Newchwang, i. 203, 216, 217, 220,
222, 223, 224, 249 ; ii. 169
mud at, i. 222, 225
Newspaper Press, the, ii. 271
Nicolaeflfk, i. 258
Nikolskoye, ii. 21, 22, 24, 25
Korean settlements near, iL 15
Ninety-nine Turns," pass of the, L
176
Nobility, the, i. 44
Nowo Eiewsk, iL 3, 16, 20
Nuns, i. 162
0-BANO-OHANG-KUN dsemous, iL 241
O'Conor, Lady, L 216
Officialism, L 44 ; iL 189
Official corruption, iL 261, 262
0-hung-suk Ju, ii. 100
Oiesen, Mr., i. 183 ; iL 292
Oil paper, use of, ii. 128
Okamoto, Mr., ii. 62, 71
Op Ju daemon, ii. 247
Oracles, u. 237
Orange-peel, use of, i. 102
Oricol, ii. 30
Osaka, iL 58
Osborne, Mr., iL 292
Oshima, General, iL 122
Otori, Mr.. L 41, 212, 213; iL 61,
190, 191, 289
Ou-Chin-gang, ii. 155
Outfit, L 70, 71
Pagoda, a ruinous, L 100
Pai Chai College, the, ii. 209
Paik-kui Mi, i. 114, 127, 128
Paik-tu San Mountain, i. 5, 6 ; ii.
141
Paik-yang Gang river, L 148, 149
Pai-low, the, iL 270
Pa Ju, iL 80, 90
320
INDEX
Spanish chestnuts, groves of, i. 122
Spasskoje, ii. 25
Spinsterhood, i. 129
Spirit shrine, a, i. 147, 152
Spirit-worship, i. 14, 66, 106, 107
"Star Board," the, ii. 84
Straw fringes, use of, ii. 99
Streets, L 21 ; ii. 265-267
Stripling, Mr. A. B.. ii. 278
Su-chung Dai, i. 180
Suglmura, Mr., ii. 68, 71
Suicide, prevalence of, i. 241
Sun-chh6n, ii. 147, 148
Sungacha river, ii. 27
Suruga Maru, the 8.s., ii. 60
SuxUlow King'sRewardSy The^ ii. 167
Swings, i. 190
Sword and Dragon Dance, the, ii.
166
Syo-im, i. 184
Tablets, stone, i. 115
Tai-d5ng river, i. 5, 8, 122 ; ii. 109,
111, 112, 116, 117, 127-130,
183, 137, 144, 147, 156, 169
Taiping rebellion, i. 219
Tai-won-Kun, the, i. 83, 243 ; ii. 43,
44, 51, 61, 62, 67, 68, 177, 268
Taku forts, the, i. 216
Tanning industry, the, ii. 272
Tan-pa-Ryong Pass, the, L 150, 152,
158
Tan-yang, i. 81, 100, 105, 108, 109,
110, 111, 119
Tao-jol, the, ii. 108
Ta-rai, L 125
Tarantass, the, ii. 4, 5, 7
Ta-ri-mak, i. 189, 194, 195
Taxes, ii. 204
Tchyu-Chichang Pass, i. 176
Temperature, high, i. 182, 184, 185,
199, 223, 225
low, i. 240 ; ii. 30, 101
Temple, interior of a, i. 97
Temple of the God of War, 1. 61
Temples, i. 93, 152-172, 197 ; ii. 94,
108
"Ten Judges," the, ii. 85
Temple of the, i. 156
Thong-chhdn, i. 179
"Throwing the ball," ii. 166
Tientsin, i. 203
treaty of, i. 242
Tiger-hunters, i. 79, 145, 174
Tigers, i. 121, 145, 173 ; ii. 141, 243,
244
Ti Ju daemon, ii. 246, 247
Tok-Chhon, ii. 128, 130-136, 141, 156
Tok-gabi daemons, ii. 242, 243
Tol Mara, ii. 102
Tomak-na-<lali, i. 93
Tombs, i. 83
Tong-bak rebels, the, i. 24, 87, 205,
206, 208, 209, 210, 242; ii.
53, 54, 55, 186
Tong-ku, i. 150
"Top-knot," the, ii. 173-184
riots, ii. 179
Tornado, a, i. 148
To-tam, i. 110, 111, 113
To-ti-chi Shin daemons, ii. 245
Toys, i. 194
Trade, i. 17, 18, 27, 28 ; ii. 104-108,
212-218, 284
statistics, ii. 300-304
Trans-Siberian Railway, the, i. 201 ;
ii. 21
Travellers, i. 145
Treasury, the, ii. 200
Treaty between Japan and Russia, ii.
807
Treaty Ports, the, i. 12, 28 ; ii. 171,
292, 298
populations of, ii. 305, 306
powers, the, i. 243
Tso, General, i 238, 247, 248 ; ii.
117, 118, 119, 124
Tsushima, island of, i. 16
Tu-men river, i. 4, 8 ; ii. 1, 7, 10,
12, 14, 26
"Twelve Thousand Peaks," the, i.
158
Tyzen Ho river, ii. 14
Underwood, Mrs., ii. 37, 39, 42, 73
Un-san, ii. 127
Unterberger, General, i. 255
Ur-rop-so, i. 121
Ussuri, ii. 21, 22
bridge, u. 21, 23
railway, the, ii. 21, 22, 24
river, the, il 21, 26, 27
Ut-Kiri, i. 120, 124
Vermin, protection against, ii. 90
Village system, the, ii. 203
INDEX
321
ViUages, i. 84, 188 ; ii. 4, 5, 9, 16
Vocal music, i. 191
Volcanic action, signs of, i. 6, 7
"Volunteer Fleet," the Russian, i.
267 ; ii. 22
Waebbb, Mr., i. 212 ; ii. 184, 260
Mme., ii. 73
" Walking the Bridges," custom of,
ii. 56
War, declaration of, i. 244 ; ii. 287,
288
enthusiasm for, i. 251
Office, the, ii. 201
rumours of, i. 205
Warner, Mr., i. 71
Waters, Colonel, ii. 28
Wei-hai-wei, fall of, ii. 58
Wei-man, ii. 169
Western China, journey to, ii. 77
equipment for, ii. 79
Whang Hal coast, the, ii. 171
Whang Ju, ii. 109, 110, 111
" White-headed Moimtain," i. 5
Widows, il 86-89, 98
remarriage of, ii. 89
Wife, the duty of a, i. 138
Wildfowl, i. 202
WUkinson, Mr., i 26
Witch doctors, i. 239
Wladivostok, I 203, 260-261 ; ii.
1, 2, 21, 26, 27, 29
Chinese shops in, i. 268
climate of, i 261
Korean settlements near, ii 15
population of, i. 258
public buildings in, i. 269
visit of the Tsar to, ii 21
Wol-po, ii. 127
Women, position of, i 43 ; ii. 148-
154
Won-chon, i 124
Wong, my servant, i 69, 78, 103,
124, 142, 144, 190, 226, 280
Won Ju, i 100, 106
Won-san, i. 5, 11, 12, 79, 122, 124,
126, 140, 173, 183, 185, 189,
196, 198-201, 206, 213 ; ii 29,
134, 217
population of, i 203 ; ii 306
trade of, i 208
Wyers, Mr., i 72, 74
Wylie, Mr., murder of, i 246, 249
Yalu river, the, i 4
Yamen, a, i 95, 103, 116, 116, 126,
189 ; ii. 62, 103, 147
runners, i 60, 67, 96 ; ii 144,
148
Yang-bans, i 60, 83, 84, 86, 86, 96,
113, 114, 128, 131, 146 ; U. 17,
127, 148, 281, 288
Yang-kun, i. 92
Yang-wol, i 116
Yangtze rapids, the, i 119
Yantchihe, ii 6, 6, 7
Ye Cha Yun, ii. 256, 266
Yellow Sea, the, i 4, 26
Yi family, dsemon of the, ii. 263
Yi, General, i 242
Yi Hak In, Mr., ii 78, 79, 90, 93,
97, 101, 102, 104, 109, 113, 122,
124, 129, 132, 138, 189, 142,
167, 170
Yi Kyong-jik, ii 66
Ying-tzu, i 216
Yo Ju, i 93, 94, 96, 97, 100
Yong-Chhun, i 81, 82, 115, 117, 119
rapid, i 117
Yong-Wol, i 86
Yon-yung Pa-da, ii. 171
Yuan, Mr., i 42, 212
Yu-chom Sa temple, i 168, 163
164, 165, 167, 169
big bell at, i 169
Yul-sa, the monk, i 166
Yung-hing, i 201
Yung-won, ii 138
THS END
Printed by R« & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.
OCT i-f s! 191?